Prince Harry Was Allegedly Denied An Important Meeting Before Megxit Occurred

When the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, and his wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, chose to leave the royal family, many were shocked and bewildered. The New Yorker further reported that the British public's reaction to the couple leaving the United Kingdom for the United States – and conducting a shocking interview with Oprah Winfrey — was far from pleasant.

While the public took a bit of time to come to terms with the accusations made during the Oprah interview, the royal family struggled the most with the information shared by the duke and duchess. Buckingham Palace would release an official statement that read in part, "The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan," amongst other things.

According to Vanity Fair, fans of the royal family did not see all of the drama that went down behind the scenes following Meghan and Harry's exit. Now, thanks to a new book by a royal expert, we are getting an inside look at what the final moments between Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Harry looked like as he prepared to leave royal life behind.

Valentine Low, the royal correspondent for the United Kingdom's publication The Times, has published a new book about the inner workings of the royal family, per Tatler. There were many interesting facts revealed in the book, which is titled "Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown," including that King Charles III is a demanding boss and the drama between members of the staff gets in the way of their jobs. However, it was the struggle between Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II before his departure for the United States that has royal fans talking.

When it came to fixing things with the queen before Harry left his royal duties, Low writes in an excerpt released by The Times, "Harry seemed to be under the impression that they could just sort it out by email before he and Meghan got back to London on January 6, [2020]." However, he would learn this matter required meeting in person to hash it out. 

Sadly, Harry was told he could not meet with his grandmother until late January. "This went down incredibly badly," Low claims. "It fed into the narrative that they were not being taken seriously by the palace machinery, or by the rest of the family. The message was conveyed to him that the queen had been confused about her diary, and was no longer available," Low continued. "Harry was incensed because it was not true: the courtiers had got in the way." Harry considered driving straight to his grandmother to talk there and then, but did not go through with it.

According to author Valentine Low's excerpt of "Courtiers" in The Times, Queen Elizabeth's staff did not want a private meeting to occur between the queen and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. According to Low, "They saw the meeting with the Queen as an attempt to pick the Queen off before Harry started talks with the rest of the family." In addition, Low quoted a source as saying, "There was a danger that a private conversation could be interpreted very differently by two people."

However, once the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made their announcement on January 8, a face-to-face meeting occurred quickly. As USA Today reported at the time, the next day, Elizabeth told senior royals the conflict needed to be resolved in a matter of "days not weeks." The queen, Harry, then-Prince Charles, and Prince William all met at the royal estate at Sandringham on January 13 to discuss the matter. 

The queen was sad and frustrated a solution could not be reached with Harry. "She was very hurt and told me, 'I don't know, I don't care, and I don't want to think about it anymore," a source told Katie Nicholl, author of "The New Royals," per Vanity Fair.

Even so, Elizabeth and Harry shared a close relationship. Elizabeth "adored Harry right to the end, and Harry adored her," historian and royal author Robert Hardman told People. "[I]t would have been one of her dearest wishes that [the family] patch things up."