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Prince Harry was reportedly “infuriated” when his father King Charles III told him he couldn’t pay for Meghan Markle in the future. A new book, Our King, by respected royal chronicler Robert Jobson, reveals that after Harry told Charles and Prince William he was going to marry Meghan, William asked, “Are you sure Harold?”
Then, according to an extract in the Daily Mail, Charles delivered the “bombshell” that he “couldn’t afford to pay for Meghan in the future” alongside Camilla, William and Kate, and their children. An “infuriated” Harry already thought William disapproved of Meghan, thinking their relationship had become a “whirlwind affair,” Jobson writes. Meghan thought Kate was being “stand-offish” with her. Kate then demanded an apology after Meghan said Kate may have “baby brain”—before their now-notorious fight over bridesmaid dresses for Harry and Meghan’s wedding.
The queen herself had witnessed “volatile exchanges” between William and Harry, Jobson writes, believing Harry and Meghan to be “quite mad.” Their criticisms of the family made the late monarch “tired,” although she retained “great affection” for Harry.
Jobson writes that in January 2020, at the Sandringham “Megxit’ summit where Harry and Meghan’s departure terms from their roles as senior royals were discussed, the queen had the room “swept for bugs” as she was concerned about the possibility of press leaks of conversations between herself, Charles, William, and Harry.
The queen also ruled out Meghan joining the discussion. Jobson writes: “There was a suggestion that Meghan should join Charles, William and Harry via video link from Canada, but the queen ruled that her attendance in any form was ‘not necessary’ as Harry would represent her. It was also felt that a video link wouldn’t be secure, as Charles and William wouldn’t be able to tell if the meeting was being recorded or if Meghan had anyone else listening in as they spoke.”
Jobson writes that after Harry and Meghan’s accusations and revelations in their 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview—including that a senior royal had questioned the skin tone of their then-unborn child—Charles and William decided they couldn’t be alone with Harry.
“William went to his father and told him that the Royal Family needed a clear strategy in dealing with the renegade royals,” Jobson writes. “Charles agreed. From then on, Harry’s father and brother decided, they would no longer treat him as a trusted—if often infuriating—member of the family. In short, they would never again meet Harry alone. There would always have to be another person in the room.”
A senior source in the royal household told Jobson: “They were both deeply disappointed in him. He had no right or authority to speak on their behalf.” The queen thought Harry being “so consumed” with love for Meghan was “clouding his judgment.” The queen felt “let down” by Harry stepping down as a senior royal, seeing his and Meghan’s departure as a “missed opportunity.”
Harry spoke to the queen by phone regularly, Jobson writes. She hoped he had found “peace and happiness,” but the monarch felt “troubled” when Harry asked her to voice his grievances, telling him to speak to Charles directly—even if, as Harry told Oprah, his father stopped taking his calls.
Queen Elizabeth was reportedly “surprised” when, having suggested to Meghan she turn to Sophie, Countess of Wessex—Prince Edward’s wife—for support, Meghan replied, “I’ve got Harry.”Jobson writes in Our King, the Mail reports, that the incident took place at a one-to-one meeting between the two women, where the late queen “warmly welcomed” Meghan to the family, Jobson wrote, where she told Meghan she was “so pleased Harry had at last found love.”
In November 2016, Harry released a strongly worded statement decrying media and online harassment of Meghan, fearing, he said, for her safety. “Some of this has been very public—the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.”
Jobson writes that Charles, who was in Bahrain on a Foreign Office-sponsored visit to the Gulf states was “disappointed at what he regarded as his son’s bad manners,” in taking attention from him. “He would never have done such a thing if the Queen was on tour,” one former aide told Jobson. “Understandably, there is a hierarchy and a grid system, but Prince Harry seemed to think when it came to Meghan Markle, she would always take precedence.” William was said to be “uneasy” and thought privately that his brother had “overreacted.”