TODAY the Queen has held urgent talks with senior royals at Sandringham to discuss the future of Meghan and Harry.
Dubbed the ‘Sandringham summit’, the meeting followed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to, in their words, ‘step back’ from being senior members of the Royal Family.
In a shock announcement the pair said they aim to be ‘financially independent’, while continuing to fully support the Queen.
Her Majesty today agreed to a ‘period of transition’ at the ‘constructive’ talks, which also involved Prince Charles, Prince William and Meghan, who is thought to have phoned in from Canada.
It comes after an increasingly frosty atmosphere between the couple and large sections of the media.
Most recently, Harry and William slammed an ‘offensive and potentially harmful’ report in the Times that the Sussexes felt ‘bullied’ by his older brother.
But where and when did Meghan and Harry’s recent trouble really begin?
Criticism ramped up after Meghan celebrated her 38th birthday in Ibiza in August.
The couple’s environmental credentials were under question, after they jetted into the Balearic island on a private plane on August 6.
As exposed by the Olive Press, the former Suits actress enjoyed her time away with Harry and baby Archie in a €125,000-a-week villa, sporting a 50-metre infinity pool.
Olive Press reporter Joshua Parfitt was in Ibiza to track down the property at Sa Calma on the Vista Alegre estate.
The revelations caused a stir, especially as Harry in particular touts himself as a green-fingered, bearded gap year-style eco warrior.
Even the Sussex’s self-titled website – via which they announced the impending Megxit – contains environmental-sounding sections titled ‘Protecting Africa’s Ecosystems’ and ‘Regenerating The Health Of Our Planet’.
But the trip to Spain’s White Isle wasn’t Harry and Meghan’s only private jet flight in 2019.
In the month of August alone, they took four flights in 11 months, while it was calculated that it would take 1,400 trees ten years to offset the carbon emitted from their private jet flights in the two years prior.
While all this was going on, Harry’s big brother Prince William and wife Kate Middleton were seen stepping off an €85 FlyBe flight with their children, George, Charlotte and Louis.
The young family’s budget journey from Norwich International Airport to Aberdeen Airport contrasted sharply to the luxury indulged in by Harry and Meghan.
A month later there was more scrutiny, as Harry revealed in an ITV interview that he and his wife had ‘good days’ and ‘bad days’.
It prompted a ‘worried’ Prince William to deny claims that he was ‘furious’ about Harry’s other admission that he and his brother were ‘on different paths’.
In the same month Harry also began legal action against the owners of the Sun, the News of the World, and the Daily Mirror over alleged phone hacking.
That claim came just days after Meghan’s own legal action against the Mail on Sunday for unlawfully publishing one of her private letters.
In a blistering personal statement on the Sussexes’ website, Harry attacked the ‘relentless propaganda’ they were forced to put up with.
Referencing his mum, Princess Diana, he said: “I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.
“I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person.”
Meghan is currently in Canada, where she and Prince Harry spent a six-week Christmas break.
The North American country has been identified as a possible place the couple may relocate to, although the reports remain unconfirmed.
Harry and Meghan are a young couple with a baby son and are clearly on a different path to the Royal Family.
They may relocate to Canada, they may not, but they are leaving ‘the Firm’.
Even the Queen supports them, saying in a statement, “My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family.
“Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family.”
With backing from the British Monarch, surely we have to support them as well.
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