When she and Prince Harry officially quit the royal family in March, Meghan Markle reportedly tearfully told a friend: “I gave up my entire life for this family. I was willing to do whatever it takes. But here we are. It’s very sad.”
“The powers [of the institution] are unfortunately greater than me,” she is also reported to have said. She likened tabloid criticism to “death by a thousand cuts.”
Meanwhile, Prince Harry “felt at once used for their popularity, hounded by the press because of the public’s fascination with this new breed of royal couple, and disparaged back within the institution’s walls for being too sensitive and outspoken. He and Meghan didn’t want to walk away from the monarchy; rather, they wanted to find a happy place within it.”
The explosive details of Harry and Meghan’s departure from the royal family are revealed in the first extract from the tell-all biography Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family, by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, which has been published by the Times of London.
The extract was published as Harry and Meghan launched a new lawsuit over an alleged paparazzi intrusion at their home in Los Angeles, in which photographs were taken of their son Archie.
The book says that Harry felt “unprotected” by his family, and “as though he and Meghan had long been sidelined by the institution and were not a fundamental part of its future.”
Harry feels “that there were so many occasions when the institution and his family could have helped them, stood up for them, backed them up, and never did,” a source told the authors.
“Fundamentally, Harry wanted out. Deep down, he was always struggling within that world. She’s opened the door for him on that.”
— Source close to Meghan and Harry
“Fundamentally, Harry wanted out,” a source close to the couple revealed. “Deep down, he was always struggling within that world. She’s opened the door for him on that.”
“The courtiers blame Meghan, and some family do,” another source said of the couple leaving the royal family.
Harry likened the negotiations around his and Meghan’s royal exit to “standing in front of a firing squad,” the book claims.
At one point, as Harry scrolled through negative comments online about his and Meghan’s behavior, he is reported to have said: “It’s a sick part of the society we live in today, and no one is doing anything about it. Where’s the positivity? Why is everyone so miserable and angry?”
After their final royal engagement, the book reveals, Meghan got the first flight back to Canada. “Meg just wanted to get home,” a friend said, the authors describing Meghan as “emotionally bruised and exhausted.” The friend added, “At that point she couldn’t imagine wanting to set a foot back into anything royal again.”
Prince William, a Kensington Palace source told the authors, remained upset that Harry and Meghan made “private” family matters…
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