Queen Elizabeth II reportedly knew that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s “demands” to work for the British monarchy in America would “end in disaster”, a source has revealed. The late Queen, who died in 2022, refused to allow the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to carry on working for the Crown overseas when they stepped back from being senior royals in 2020 as she knew it would not end well.
At the time, Harry, 40, and Meghan, 43, wanted to “carve out a progressive new role within this institution”. They also wanted to be financially independent while still representing Her Majesty – something that was rejected by the Royal Household.
A source told The Daily Mail: “Her Late Majesty was nobody’s fool and knew that the chances were, it would all end in disaster.”
In 2020, royal aides were also concerned about the fact that Harry and Meghan might be paid vast sums of money to endorse certain brands of products, which wouldn’t be appropriate while representing the Royal Family on a professional level.
Concerns such as these were part of the reason for Queen Elizabeth refusing to allow the couple to be “half in, half out” of the royal firm.
Instead, the late Queen gave her grandson permission to quit royal life, making it clear that his royal duties and patronages shall be left behind and that they will no longer be representing her, the Crown, or receiving public funding.
The couple did manage to retain their royal titles as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – titles given to them on their 2018 wedding day – however were no longer allowed to use HRH.
Addressing Meghan and Harry’s decision to quit royal life in 2020, Queen Elizabeth issued a statement in which she made it clear the couple and their son Prince Archie were still loved family members. The statement came before Princess Lilibet was born a year later.
The late Queen wrote in 2020: “Following many months of conversations and more recent discussions, I am pleased that together we have found a constructive and supportive way forward for my grandson and his family.
“Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved members of my family. I recognise the challenges they have experienced as a result of intense scrutiny over the last two years and support their wish for a more independent life.
“I want to thank them for all their dedicated work across this country, the Commonwealth and beyond, and am particularly proud of how Meghan has so quickly become one of the family. It is my whole family’s hope that today’s agreement allows them to start building a happy and peaceful new life.”
