Queen Elizabeth II was privately “very hurt” by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s decision to quit the royal family, a bombshell new book has claimed.
Her Majesty — who passed away earlier this month at the age of 96 — reportedly shared her sorrow of the situation with a close friend, who in turn spoke with author Katie Nicholl for her new tome “The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown,” released on Tuesday.
The alleged close pal is not named in Nicholl’s book, but is quoted as saying: “She [the queen] was very hurt and told me, ‘I don’t know, I don’t care, and I don’t want to think about it anymore.'”
An excerpt of “The New Royals” has been published by Vanity Fair, with Nicholl also writing that the aging monarch was “exhausted” by the “turmoil” of Harry and Meghan’s 2019 decision to leave the UK.
The couple’s move — dubbed “Megxit” by the press — sparked a rift in the royal family, which was only exacerbated by their decision to trash the Firm in a sit-down interview with Oprah early last year.
Queen Elizabeth II was said to be “very hurt” by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s move to quit the royal family in 2019. The trio are pictured together in 2018.APMeanwhile, Nicholl writes that Elizabeth II was saddened by the fact that she was not close to Harry and Meghan’s two children, Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1, who are being raised by their parents in California.
“It was a source of sadness to the queen that she got to see so little of Archie and Lilibet and that Harry and Meghan were not able to join her for a weekend at Balmoral in August, when the queen used to host a ‘sleepover’ for all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” an excerpt from the book reads.
Harry and Meghan have been back in the UK for the past two weeks following the death of Queen Elizabeth on September 8.
The queen was said to be saddened at the fact she was so far from great-grandchildren Archie and Lilibet, who are being raised in California. Alexi Lubomirski / Duke and Duch However, the pair are believed to be returning to home to California without striking a “peace deal” with the royal family.
“CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King, who is Meghan’s friend, said the relationship between Harry and Meghan and the royal family is still tenuous — despite the couple appearing alongside senior royals at several events over the past fortnight.
King was in London reporting on Queen Elizabeth’s historic funeral, revealing to “Extra” that there have been efforts on “both sides to, sort of, make this right. We shall see.”
“It was a source of sadness to the queen that she got to see so little of Archie and Lilibet and that Harry and Meghan were not able to join her for a weekend at Balmoral in August, when the queen used to host a ‘sleepover’ for all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” an excerpt from the book reads. Getty Images“Big families always go through drama, always go through turmoil,” she said in the “Extra” interview. “It remains to be seen — are they going to be drawn closer together or are they going to be drawn apart?
The pair are returning to the US empty-handed, “without a peace deal being struck,” according to the Daily Mail.
However, King noted the effort was visible when William and Harry made several appearances together alongside their father King Charles III, as the family mourns the death of Queen Elizabeth.
“I will tell you this: It was good to see Harry standing with his family,” she said.
