Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's departure from royal life shocked the world back in 2020. At the time, the couple had only just moved into Frogmore Cottage and had welcomed their son, Archie, less than a year before. However, rumours of a royal rift between Princes Harry and William had been mounting, and in an off-hand comment during their 2019 royal tour in Africa, Meghan admitted she was struggling.
Since then, Harry and Meghan have spoken candidly about their decision to leave the UK in both their Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, and in their infamous tell-all with Oprah. But in his book, Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, royal author Andrew Morton - who famously penned Diana: Her True Story in 1992 - writes that a photograph of young Prince George shared days before, inadvertently, the catalyst for Harry and Meghan's move away from the monarchy.
According to Morton, when the Palace released a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles, Prince William and Prince George in the throne room on 3rd January 2020, it stirred some complicated feelings in the Sussexes. He writes: "The royal couple suspected that the entire institution was conspiring against them. As they saw it, the evidence was all around them. The unspoken code was straightforward: the future of the monarchy was assured, with or without Meghan and Harry."
The author adds that this particular photo of the heirs together acted as a 'wake-up call' for Harry and Meghan as they debated their place within the royal fold. Over the years, the Sussexes have spoken in detail about the building tension within the royal household ahead of their shock departure, and Morton elaborated on this during an episode of Pod Save The King podcast. He stated that the couple had been considering their options much earlier than most thought, saying: "Harry was having conversations in a London hotel with Oprah Winfrey back in November 2018, just six months after they'd been married. So they were thinking about a different direction of travel pretty early on."
