Harry and Meghan decided to quit the royal family after a photo of them and baby Archie was removed when the Queen gave her Christmas speech, a new book claims.
The couple were allegedly upset when the image was absent during the monarch's 2019 festive broadcast.
Months later they rocked the royal family by announcing they were quitting and starting a new life overseas.
The new book, Brothers and Wives: Inside The Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry and Meghan by Christopher Andersen, alleges that the Queen asked for the Sussexes image to be removed.
The framed photo was initially on a desk alongside other family images, including photos of William and Kate, Prince Charles and Camilla, the Queen's father George VI and the Duke of Edinburgh.
But ahead of recording, she ordered an aide to remove the photo, which featured Harry and Meghan holding their then-seven-month-old son Archie.
According to the book, a source said the Queen “looked over the tables where the photographs she had so lovingly selected were arranged".
She told the director that all photos but the one of the Sussexes was fine, it is alleged.
The monarch is claimed to have pointed at the framed image and said: “That one, I suppose we don’t need that one.”
It is suggested that the Queen snubbed Harry and Meghan because they had chosen to spend Christmas in Canada with Meghan's mum Doria Ragland.
A palace spokeswoman told the New York Post : “We don’t comment on books of this kind as to do so risks giving it some form of authority or credibility.”
As The Mirror reported in December 2019, the Queen was filmed in the Green Drawing Room of Buckingham Palace, beside a table with framed pictures.
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall appear in a photo which marked the 50th anniversary of his investiture as Prince of Wales.
A family portrait of William, Kate, George, Charlotte and Louis stands in the middle.
There's also a photograph of King George VI from 1944 as well as one of the Duke of Edinburgh from the Queen's private collection.
But notably, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - along with their baby Archie - were nowhere to be seen.
Royal commentator Ingrid Seward said at the time it was unlikely the Queen’s photo selections represented a deliberate snub to Harry and Meghan.
But she said: “It does seem to represent the idea of a slimmed-down monarchy.”
Ms Seward added: “All the media problems with Harry and Meghan must have worried her. However, she would never be so underhand as to deliberately omit their picture.”
