When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they would be stepping back as working queens in 2020, the world reacted with dismay, and speculation quickly turned to how the rest of the royal family really felt about the decision. A few days later, Queen Elizabeth sent a personal message that Harry, Meghan and their son Archie “will always be part of my family”.However, it has since been suggested that the late Queen was privately concerned about what the Sussexes would do after stepping down from royal duties, and that her blessing came with a specific condition attached.
What the queen said prince harry
Writing in the latest issue of Woman magazine, royal correspondent Duncan Larcombe says Queen Elizabeth has set out clear conditions for Harry and Meghan’s departure. “His Majesty made it clear to Harry that he and Meghan would go with his blessing as long as they understood that stepping down from royal life meant that,” he wrote.
The Sandringham summit and the Queen’s final judgment
Queen Elizabeth, in the end, did not share this view, and made her position clear. Writing in ‘The Windsor Legacy’, royal author Robert Jobson described a summit meeting at Sandringham House in January 2020 where the issue was settled once and for all. “The above answer was clear: no middle ground was possible. They were either in or out,” Jobson wrote, adding, “His Majesty’s judgment deepened the tensions in the family, particularly between Harry and William.“
Recent events echo the Queen’s earlier concerns
While Harry and Meghan initially followed the rules laid out for them, recent years have seen developments that seem to echo what the late Queen was worried about. The couple’s trip to Australia in April drew both praise and criticism, particularly for elements that resembled a traditional royal tour. The visit came ahead of King Charles and Queen Camilla’s visit to the United States.In May, Meghan traveled to Switzerland for the opening of The Lost Screen Memorial, dedicated to children who lost their lives as a result of social media abuse. A few days earlier, the Princess of Wales made her first visit abroad since her cancer diagnosis, traveling to neighboring Italy.
The working queens usually coordinate their engagements carefully to avoid clashes, but it is unclear whether any communication between the family and the Sussexes has continued since their departure. The proximity of these visits has inevitably created direct comparisons, and has given weight to the fact that the Queen’s concerns overshadowing the organization’s work may have been well founded.
Queen Elizabeth’s service legacy
The Queen’s dedication to the monarchy and the Commonwealth was one of her defining characteristics, something Prince Harry himself acknowledged after her death in 2022. “In celebrating the life of my grandmother, Her Majesty the Queen, and mourning her loss, we are all reminded of that guiding compass.
