Opinion: Prince Harry and Meghan’s Latest Betrayal Is ‘Unforgivable’

Joe Giddens / via REUTERS In the rarefied pages of Hello! magazine this week, a “friend” of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was quoted, with impeccable timing, confirming that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex do not consider themselves bound by the Sandringham agreement, the settlement the late Queen hammered out in January 2020 to let them leave the royal family (and the United Kingdom), because they never agreed to it in the first place.

“It doesn’t trouble them.

They never agreed they wouldn’t be half in half out,” this friend told the magazine.

“That was what was decided and foisted upon them.

They’re just living their lives and they can, because they’re financially independent.” But the “half in, half out” model was the thing Queen Elizabeth II ruled out at Sandringham.

It was the central tenet of “Megxit,” in fact: you are either a working royal or you are not .

It was the basis on which Harry and Meghan left this country .

And now the Sussexes’ position, six years on, is that none of it counts.

The statement—which, let’s be honest, has surely been spoon-fed by their office—has gone down spectacularly badly.

One friend of the late Queen, who is also close to the wider family, told The Royalist : “It’s unforgivable.” “The idea that you would ask the Queen to sign a contract with a member of her family is absolutely disgusting, but it’s entirely what we have come to expect from these two,” Another source, a former courtier loyal to King Charles, said, adding, “I am appalled to hear this.” On January 18, 2020, the Queen issued a statement saying that “together we have found a constructive and supportive way forward” and that the “agreement” would allow Harry and Meghan to build a happy new life .

Buckingham Palace’s statement the same day said the couple were grateful for the support and understood they were required to step back from royal duties.

The following evening, Harry said he had accepted the arrangement.

In other words, nobody “foisted” anything on anyone.

Harry sat in the room at Sandringham.