For Prince Harry, it was an act of disloyalty like no other, writes royal biographer Emily Andrews
For the previous two years the Duke of Sussex’s anger with everyone from the British press to his own family had become all-out war.
As Harry’s relationship with courtiers and the Royal Family crumbled, he infamously went public on his feud with brother William. During an ITV interview he gave during his and Meghan’s 2019 tour of South Africa (just months before they sensationally quit as working royals), he dropped the bombshell that the brothers’ bond was experiencing ‘good days’ and ‘bad days’.
Afterwards, Prince William tried to reach out to his younger brother but was rebuffed after Harry feared the meeting would be leaked.
Wanting to find his freedom, Harry decided to spend Christmas 2019 in Vancouver, Canada, with wife Meghan and baby Archie.
Surely there, miles from home, he could find peace?
But now it can be revealed that he suspected his brother of the ultimate betrayal.
He feared the partner of William’s top aide was leaking stories about him and Meghan to one particular newspaper.
Pretty soon after Harry had written a private letter to his father Charles, asking to step back from royal duties and offering to give up their Sussex titles, the explosive ‘Megxit’ story appeared in the papers.
The rift with his family wasn’t just deepened – it was blown asunder. In the highly charged stakes of the ‘Sandringham Summit’, he could not forgive the Palace or his family for what had happened.
In Spare, he writes, ‘The Palace… courtiers were determined to get ahead of us and spin the story. We didn’t want that. We didn’t want anyone else breaking our news, twisting our news.’ Once the story broke, he wrote, ‘As expected, the story depicted our departure as a rollicking, carefree, hedonistic tapping out, rather than a careful retreat and attempt at self-preservation. It also included the telling detail that we’d offered to relinquish our Sussex titles. There was only one document on earth in which that detail had been mentioned – my private and confidential letter to my father.’
Collapse of trust
Relations had begun to sour after Meghan had made allegations against the royals (‘not many people have asked if I’m OK’) during the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s tour of South Africa in autumn 2019.
But it was the leak of Harry and Meghan’s plans to stay in Canada that led to a complete
