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Meghan Markle believes she and Prince Harry are being “picked on” by the royals in the fallout over their withdrawal from royal duties and that “if anyone should feel insulted, it should be them,” her close friends reportedly told DailyMail.com.

Meghan supposedly told her circle that the restrictions being placed on them are “payback” for wanting to be independent and has complained to friends about the unfairness of the Queen banning them from using the word “royal” in their branding.

“Meghan said that [she and Harry] were left with no choice but to make a public statement,” an apparently well-briefed friend told Dailymail.com. “She said if anyone should feel insulted, it should be them. They never intended to capitalize on the word ‘royal,’ and to insinuate they were somehow abusing their privileges is absurd.”

Prince Harry was in Edinburgh in Scotland on Wednesday for the launch of his Travalyst initiative, where he urged delegates to just call him Harry.

“She said she and Harry will continue to rise above jealousy and pettiness and focus on the good they are creating and on being the best parents to Archie,” the friend added.

Meghan is due to appear in London with her husband for an awards ceremony for sick and injured military personnel on March 5.

While the Sussexes’ frustration at not being allowed to use the Sussex Royal brand they have spent much of the past two years building up is entirely understandable, briefings such as these are unlikely to go down well with palace insiders and power players, among whom discretion is prized above all.