The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have long felt “sidelined by the institution and were not a fundamental part of its future.”
When Queen Elizabeth II did not mention Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in her Christmas speech in 2019, they were thought to be offended and disappointed.
During the festive season, it is customary for the British monarch to include photographs of her family in her video address to the public. Her 2019 address, however, lacked a portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their son Archie.
This had hurt the couple, according to authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand of “Finding Freedom.” They were disappointed to see that their photograph was not among those on the queen’s desk. Instead, the camera focused on a framed portrait of Prince William and Kate Middleton with their children.
“One didn’t have to look further than the family photos displayed during the Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day. In the Green Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace, where the Queen delivered her address, viewers glimpsed photos of the Cambridges and their children, Charles and Camilla, Prince Philip, and a black-and-white image of George VI,” the authors wrote in their book as quoted by The Sun.
“Noticeably absent was a photo of Harry, Meghan, and their new baby, Archie. Palace sources insisted that the photos were chosen to represent the direct line of succession,” they added.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had long felt “sidelined by the institution and were not a fundamental part of its future,” according to Scobie and Durand. The removal of their picture from Queen Elizabeth II’s Christmas speech in 2019 “had been yet another sign that they needed to consider their own path,” according to reports.
As per Ibtimes, the authors’ assertions are consistent with another revelation from Christopher Andersen’s book “Brothers and Wives: Inside the Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry, and Meghan.” In it, he claimed that the Duke of Sussex and his grandmother had a “major rift” over the alleged Christmas snub.
It “felt as if he, Meghan, and Archie were being erased from the family,” he reportedly told a friend. It’s thought that Queen Elizabeth II explicitly requested that her grandson’s family photo not be displayed on his desk.
