All she ever gave to Harry was love
William and Harry were becoming the future of the royal family – until, all of a sudden, one of them wasn’t,
William and Harry brought a major shift in the royal family in 2016 when they launched their Heads Together campaign and began, for the first time, to open up about their mental health challenges following the tragic loss of their mother. The Queen, who was often snapped giggling with William and Harry, was fully supportive of her grandsons’ initiative.
One of the most endearing moments of the Queen’s later reign was her film with Harry and Barack Obama for the 2016 Invictus Games. The video shows the Queen and Harry watching a humorous message from Obama and his wife Michelle, saying they were going to “bring it”, as an American aide does a mic drop and says “boom!” – to which the Queen laughs and says, “Oh, really … please!”
Harry later said he was nervous to ask his grandmother to take part. “She is my boss,” he told the BBC. “There was no one else I could think of who was going to top the president and first lady of the United States of America.”
It was indicative of how much the monarch, who had turned 90, had changed. Although well-known for her sense of humour – she once quipped “I have to be seen to be believed” – recording jokey videos would have been unthinkable to the young Queen who so nervously made her first televised Christmas broadcast back in 1957.
Harry’s happiness was not to last, however, and four years later he left the royal family in the famous Megxit.
“Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much-loved members of my family. I recognise the challenges they have experienced as a result of intense scrutiny over the past two years and support their wish for a more independent life,” Her Majesty said at the time.
What she thought of the disintegrating relationship and racism accusations aired during the infamous Oprah interview in 2021 she never revealed, only releasing a statement that read: “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much-loved family members.”