Harry's Decision To Leave The Firm May Have Had Less To Do With Meghan Than We All Thought

Since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left royal life in 2020, it's been a commonly held belief that the Duke of Sussex followed his wife's lead — right out the palace door. Why wouldn't fans have thought that it was Meghan who wanted out? In her own words, the Duchess of Sussex has described what seems like an untenable living situation within "The Firm," which became so desperate, the former actress heartbreakingly shared in the famous Oprah Winfrey interview that she contemplated taking her own life (via Us Weekly).

Harry has said he felt great concern for his wife, even admitting that he saw parallels to how Meghan was treated by the media and what his mother Princess Diana went through (via People). It's no wonder that we all thought it was the Duchess of Sussex who convinced the royal to exit stage left from his overbearing family and head as far away as possible — or at least to Montecito, California.

But now, a new account offers a completely different take on what's been referred to as "Megxit." Could it be that Harry's choice to step down from his royal obligations had more to do with what was in his heart all along — and not as a result of his wife's insistence that she wanted nothing to do with "The Firm?"

Valentine Low, the author of a new book about the royal family that paints Meghan Markle in a very unflattering light, has shared that a source told him it was Prince Harry who wanted to escape the prison of palace life. As the insider tells it, the duchess extended "the greatest kindness anyone could do to him" when she helped her husband leave the U.K. and his royal duties in the rearview mirror (via Express).

Low, who writes for The Times, has claimed that according to a source, the Duke of Sussex was "deeply unhappy" with the state of his life before even meeting the woman who would become his wife. Furthermore, it was the Duchess of Sussex who solved the problem of how Harry would extricate himself from the institution that had defined his existence since birth.

Of course, the notion that Harry was not loving royal life isn't exactly new, with some accounts claiming that ever since he was a child and lost his mother, the Duke of Sussex felt a longing for something else (via The Guardian).

What exactly happened we may never know — unless the prince writes about it in his forthcoming memoir!