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Queen’s historic personal statement after summit ++ She ‘would have preferred’ Harry and Meghan to stay as full-time royals ++ But regretfully agrees to a ‘transition’ period of living in UK and Canada, saying:
The Queen reluctantly gave in to harry and Meghan’s demands to break free last night.
In a deeply personal statement that showed her sorrow, the monarch said she and her closest relatives ‘would have preferred’ the pair to remain full-time working royals.
But the 93-year-old said she understood their desire to live a ‘more independent life’ – and agreed to allow a transition to a new role that will see the couple spend much of their time in Canada.
Aides have been told to come up with a solution – preferably by the end of this week – to possibly the biggest royal crisis in a generation. The extraordinary statement followed an emotional 90-minute showdown at Sandringham yesterday
between the Queen, Prince Harry, his brother William, their father Charles and their most senior aides.
The meeting was convened in response to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s bombshell demand to step back as senior royals and forge a ‘progressive’ role within the monarchy.
Yesterday’s unprecedented meeting represented the first time that Harry, 35, had met with his closest relatives since early November, with the prince and his wife having taken a six-week break in Canada over the Christmas period. Although they arrived back only last week, Meghan, 38, has already returned to the country.
Following the Sandringham head-to-head Charles, William and Harry were seen driving out of the Norfolk estate in separate cars.
Then in a statement written personally by the Queen, with her closest advisers, the monarch made clear her personal sadness at the events of the last six days.
Repeatedly referencing ‘my family’, she said they were ‘entirely supportive’ of Harry and Meghan’s desire for a new life. But she warned that many ‘complex’ issues remained to be resolved. The development came as:
■ William and Harry engaged in a rare display of public unity as they jointly condemned claims that the Duke of Sussex had been ‘bullied out’ of the Royal Family by his elder brother;
■ Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau was said to have agreed that taxpayers in his country should pick up the huge bill for Harry and Meghan’s round-the- clock protection while they are there;
■ It emerged that a video that showed Harry touting for a Disney voiceover job for his wife has been viewed more than 1.3million times;
■ Home Secretary Priti Patel praised Britain as a ‘great country’ and rejected claims that the Duchess of Sussex had been subjected to racist media coverage.
Aides have now been set to work to try to come up with a workable solution to the crisis preferably by Friday.
This includes enabling the couple to find a way to become ‘ financially independent’ and not rely on taxpayer funds in the future, as well as acceding to their wish to live partly in Canada for the foreseeable future.
Other issues left on the table for further discussion are the cost and provision of the couple’s security, particularly while they are spending large swathes of time out of the country.
There is also the matter of Frogmore Cottage, the couple’s Windsor home lent to them by the Queen, and refurbished with £2.4million of public money. The couple have insisted that they want to keep the property as a base in the UK.
It is clear that despite the Queen’s emphasis on the meeting being ‘ constructive and supportive’, the schism between Harry and his family runs deep. The statement failed to hide the sadness of the elderly monarch who has made no secret of the hurt her grandson has caused her in wanting to break away from the institution and choosing to tell the world of his intentions last Wednesday without informing her first.
Harry is expected to leave the country to rejoin his family by the end of the week, after conducting what will likely be an awkward engagement at Buckingham Palace on Thursday in front of the media.
Yesterday’s ‘ Sandringham summit’ saw Harry arrive at 11.20am, with his grandmother and father already waiting for him.
At his side was his newlyappointed private secretary, Fiona Mcilwham. His frail grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, was earlier seen driving out of the estate and it is not known if the pair, once so close, even met.
Intriguingly, his brother William, whose relationship with his brother has become so toxic that many insiders describe it as ‘irreparable’, did not pull through the gates of the Queen’s Norfolk estate until 1.45pm, just 15 minutes before the start of the summit. It is understood that Meghan, who flew back to Canada just 24 hours after the couple’s bombshell statement last week announcing they were to stand down as senior royals, was planning to dial in on speaker phone. She is staying at the couple’s borrowed mansion on Vancouver Island with their eightmonth-old son Archie.
Some in royal circles suggested last night that Harry and Meghan had left the Queen little option but to capitulate to most of their demands to prevent a ‘royal war’.
The statement’s talk of a ‘transition period’ for the couple between the UK and Canada was said by one aide to be simply a chance for the family to gain breathing space while ‘this mess of Harry and Meghan’s own making is sorted out’.
The acknowledgement that they will hand over their public funding in order to become ‘financially independent’ appears to give them the licence to strike commercial deals as part of their ‘Sussex Royal’ brand, which some experts predict could be worth at least £400million.
But senior royals are said to be aghast at this idea of monetising the monarchy and want an assurance from Harry and US-born Meghan that they will treat their positions with respect.
The Queen’s decision to refer in her statement to the couple by their first names, an unusually intimate reference, particularly for the monarch, has also sparked speculation that the couple are set to lose their titles.
Aides say that this is unlikely as the family is acutely aware of the public backlash when Harry’s mother Diana, Princess of Wales, was stripped of her own HRH.
Royal historian and biographer Robert Lacey yesterday said that the language in the Queen’s statement was an ‘immensely’ personal intervention. ‘ It is remarkably hands on – this is the Queen,
‘Monetising the monarchy’
‘Immensely personal’
speaking to her people and speaking about her family, and I think coming right through it is the concern she feels,’ he said.
Asked if they could remember a time that the Queen has ever issued such an official personal statement about a member of her family, aides both past and present were at a loss to remember one.
The Queen has referred with warmth and affection to her husband, Philip, and the Prince of Wales in speeches and other tributes, and addressed other issues such as her famous ‘annus horribilis’ in the Christmas speech.
Other statements about family affairs have been issued by Buckingham Palace on her behalf, but always by a spokesman.
Royal insiders have told the Mail it is clear that she fears for the future of the institution.
Although she and Charles are agreed on the importance of a slimmed- down monarchy in the future, Harry and his family were always considered an important part of the line-up.