For months, the British-media’s narrative about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s exit from royal life has been centered on Meghan. What did Meghan do, what did she say, how did she manipulate Poor Harry away from his family? And yet, the narrative has also ignored Meghan in odd ways – the British media seemed obsessed, for months, with the idea of finding a way to get Harry back and only Harry. They really wanted Harry to “come to his senses” and abandon his wife and child and come running back to them. Very few people have really asked themselves: was Harry the one who wanted to GTFO? The Sun suggests that this is what will be revealed in Finding Freedom, the somewhat authorized biography of the Sussexes:
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry ‘discussed Megxit before they got married’, a new book will claim. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made headlines with their bombshell announcement in January that they were quitting the Royal Family to become financially independent. But claims have today emerged that the couple started talking about plans for a life away from the Royal Family before they even got married.
The reports are set to emerge in a new book about the couple which will be released in August. Finding Freedom – said to have been written with the couple’s knowledge – is also set to detail the couple’s plans for the future following their decision to quit the UK for a new life in LA.
A source told The Sun Online: “The book will explore the journey that Meghan and Harry went through in coming to the conclusion that they did. It will make clear that far from it being a snap decision that they took a long time to make it. The seeds of Megxit were sown before they even got married. The truth is that Harry had been deeply unhappy for a long time. And he and Meghan openly discussed going in a different direction well before they got married.”
It comes after it was revealed the book will shatter the notion the American actress is the driving force behind the pair – and instead that it was Prince Harry who wanted to make the change. A publishing insider said: “That word ‘Megxit’ in particular has always angered Prince Harry. It gives the impression that the decision to walk away from the Royal Family was Meghan’s. The reality is Harry drove that decision. The book will make that clear and explain why it had to happen. The truth is Harry had been unhappy for a long, long time.
I think Harry never liked the term “Megxit” because it began as an online racist bullying campaign to find a way to get Meghan out of the UK. There were people (racists) doing the most to smear Meghan from the word go and to “force” her out of the country. That’s what the word represents, and the British press’s adoption of the word to describe the Sussexes’ exit is very telling. But yeah, of course Harry wanted to go. I’m sure I’ve said this before, but I think Harry honestly believed that he would stay and marry Meghan and they could do their work and his family would just accept it and support them. Meghan wasn’t the reason they left – Meghan was the reason why he stayed, initially at least. But then that blew up and here we are.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.
In the engagement interview, they both seemed really optimistic for the future and excited about the work they were going to do. And once the smear campaign started up, they probably talked about leaving but probably during Charles’ reign. But then Archie was born and it probably just sped the timeline up a bit. Especially when Wooton leaked it.
I feel like they really wanted to try but always had a plan to leave if it got bad. But they did seem eager to work. Meghan even had the Commonwealth flowers sewn into her veil.
I’ve always figured Harry loved that Meghan was from a whole different world, opening up so many possibilities. She clearly tried to fit into his world and that’s something they both valued but yeah they always had another option. That’s why I think they’re the real deal together. Lots in common but enough different to be unlike anyone else either had been with.
Just stopped by to say … That picture above of him in the long coat looking directly at the camera, holding Meghan’s hand, bitting his lip with his hand on his chest? Damn, ‘Hot Harry’ is hotter than ever. What a sexy, charismatic, babe! I can see how Meghan fell. LOL! And … I can see why Michelle Obama participated in his ‘flirt’ fest. 🙂
Somebody, fan me quick!
And yes, I believe the ‘falling’ was/is mutual. I wonder if Harry’s desire to find a woman who would support his leaving, or pulling back a bit from, the Royal Family is why his prior relationship eventually didn’t work? Or perhaps I’m just over thinking the situation.
I totally think that. He may not have known he was looking for someone who could help him escape, but he fell hard when he found it.
The British media is scared of the ‘Finding Freedom’ book which was not written by Harry and Meghan.
The British media are leaking stories left and right to get ahead of the book and change the history.
They are scared!!! Omid must have foreseen this, because he reiterated his previous tweet that any “exclusives” about the book are fake…
Also, the idea that H hates M*g**t (I HATE typing that) reeks of buLlsh!t to me. He most likely hates it because it screams xenophobia and racism. It was a term used to racially bully Meg long before they announced their exit. The media trying to repurpose that awful word to remove their culpability in inciting hate is laughable, and cowardly.
What are the tabloids playing at?
This softer turn towards Meghan along with the switch against the Cambridges e.g. Kate made herself cry at the dress fittings over tights. And did anyone see Camilla Tominey’s article basically saying how William’s employee orchestrated that whole ‘budget flight publicity stunt?
It’s like their itching to get some dirt out.
I said this yesterday but I do feel like that Tatler article was a catalyst of sorts and has resulted in the following:
a) People remembered that they’re stuck with a Duchess that barely does anything
b) People also remembered that they did not like Kate and continued to not like her up until 2 minutes of Meghan arriving on the scene
c) Journalists have seen that you can get clicks by hating on the Cambridges but instead of doing a full 180, they’re slowly going back to 2016 Cambridge coverage to avoid suspicion.
Even the Fail comments aren’t so sycophantic. In the Fail article of Kate’s new hire, if you went onto the best rated comments and got past the usual “Kate is the best”, there were some comments that said she doesn’t work with more upvotes than downvotes
@Ruby, they’re only not going overboard with the nonsense because of the lawsuits, Harry threatening to sue Dan Wooton and how there is a whistleblower and the BLM movement but I’m also convinced they’re softening coverage because they want Harry and Meghan back because the other royals are boring, and don’t bring the clicks and revenue. They’ve seen that Harry and Meghan will be fine without the rota but they miss the exclusives, attention, excitement and coverage. You can tell they want that back.
@Ruby_Woo – “And did anyone see Camilla Tominey’s article”. I tried to find this article and failed. Do you have a length? Thanks!
@Sofia – ” there were some comments that said she doesn’t work with more upvotes than downvotes”. I read about 300 of the 2.7K comments on that article about an hour after Daily Mail posted it. The majority of comments I read, not from bots and paid posters, where asking why she needed an expensive secretary in the first place since she does so little. The posters could not imagine a person of the caliber of the new secretary being happy as a scheduler of hair salon appointments and working as a personal shopper calling Kate’s favorite UK designers for racks of clothes.
“Do you have a length?”
I meant to type “link” not “length”.
Here is a link!
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-boris-johnson-poached-prince-williams-right-hand-man
@Woowza – Thanks!
Nobody wants to be sued. The Byline Investigates article about staff being paid to leak stories may not have gotten a lot of traction elsewhere. However, it landed like a bomb within the RRs.
I think they are all afraid they will be next on Harry’s list.
@Fellow CBers from the UK – In the UK:
1. Is it illegal to buy information or a story?
2. It is illegal to sell information or a story?
@Bay: AFAIK, it’s not illegal to pay for stories. But if you used illegal means to secure said story – hacking, unauthorised surveillance etc etc then that’s illegal. Oh and if you’re breaching any sort of NDAs or legally binding contracts.
Yeah I’m not surprised it didn’t gain traction since the big corps probably forbid any reporting on it.
I don’t trust the tabloids… I think they’re only changing their tone because 1) There is not much sussex news right now and nobody in their camp is leaking. They’re all repeating the same stories 2) Their revenues are WAY DOWN and they are trying to get the clicks by dragging the cambridges. But I bet that as soon as the sussex start to work again, they’ll start hating again
Personally, I don’t hold my breath. I’m just waiting and watching
Harry has stated in several interviews before Meghan that he wanted to leave the royal family.
Also once William becomes the Prince of Wales all of the Sussexes founding would be controlled by him.
I don’t think that’s true. At that point I think they would just be moved fully under Charles as king, like Edward and Anne are under the Queen. Its when William became king they would have issues.
But, I could be wrong about that.
I think you are correct Becks1 but as you said once William is king then there will be issues. Which is why I hope they don’t ever go back no matter what Charles promises them, they’ll still have to deal with William and there is no way that’s going to go well for them.
Harla I think that’s one of the big reasons for them leaving NOW and I think it says a lot about Harry and William’s relationship. Harry wanted to leave while he was still the grandson of the monarch (probably easier to step back from royal duties than it would have been with Charles as king) and wanted to have ample time to establish his foundation/organization before William becomes king. I think its pretty obvious he didn’t want to be reliant on William in any way shape or form for funding etc and that says a LOT to me.
(it also may be part of why they are paying back the Frogmore renovations and paying rent on it, to stake a future claim on it.)
@Becks1 that makes sense, that part of the decision about timing was to leave under QEII and not King Charles.
Hopefully, they’ll no longer be reliant on Duchy funding at that point
I think that once the COVID19 restrictions are lifted and they can start working, then it won’t be long before they’ll no longer need any member of the royal family for anything.
I don’t think William automatically becomes prince of Wales when Charles becomes king, my understanding is he’ll have to wait for Charles to bestow the title on him. Charles go his when he turned 21. I’m hoping Charles makes William sweat for a while, and holds off giving it to him. I definitely don’t want William to get it when he’s married to kate, cos even if they get a divorce after, she will keep the princess of Wales title after, like Diana. I just don’t want her to have Diana’s title, cos she’ll milk the crap out of it.
Yes, the POW title is the one that has to be bestowed by the monarch, but the POW title isn’t the one that controls Duchy funding. William becomes Duke of Cornwall immediately after Charles becomes king, and would have control over Duchy funding at that point.
@notasugarhere well that definitely sucks. William was probably looking forward to cutting harry off financially. Glad harry got out when he did.
I’m really looking forward to this book. I’m actually not that surprised that Harry was behind the push to leave. He saw how they devoured his mother and the pattern repeating with Meghan (plus all the racist bullshit).
Right? I can’t wait to read it too. Can’t Omid push the date up? Lolz 😆
I completely agree Kaiser. I think Harry was excited to have someone to share the load with so to speak who had the same ideals and values as him and he thought his family would be supportive of them. When that didnt happen and the press started to bully his wife he was done. Harry has been vocal in the past about not being happy. And I think seeing his wife unhappy too was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
They bullied her from day one, starting Oct/Nov of 2016. I’d bet they discussed a non-royal life long before they were even engaged.
This is The Sun so please ignore. The Sussex’s have already said that they won’t engage with the UK tabloids and also, this is the rag of the Cambridge mouthpiece Wootton who owns them. If the palace (as in KP) got an advance copy of the book then they are leaking ahead of its release.
Omid retweeted his tweet that stated any source claiming to know the content of the book is inaccurate. The British press are trying to get ahead and all these articles are just them throwing stuff at the wall to see what will stick.
Yeah exactly, so why are the Sun writing this and changing their tune? Before it was “Meghan is dragging Harry away from everything he knows and loves”.
It sounds like they are preparing for something. And not to say a bombshell came out last week that leaks to the Sun came from KP staff – something fishy is going on?
It’s a mixture of things. The lawsuits, BLM movement, and the fact that they want Harry and Meghan to return. Harry and Meghan are global royalty at this point and Meghan brought interest and glamour that hasn’t been seen since Diana. Theyre losing money and the rest of the royals are boring and don’t have the same interest including William and Kate. The one photograph at the endeavor awards with rain was iconic. That will make that photographer money for years to come. It’s all about the dollars and coins with these people.
The person that did the cover art for the book said it is 100% embargo. No one has an advanced copy so these stories seem to be guesses on what’s in the book. My theory is that these tabloids know the REAL reason why they left and are trying to get ahead of the story. They probably know this book will call them out on their lies.
Meanwhile, Omid Scobie continues to say that all speculation about the contents of Finding Freedom is fiction. This has the ring of truth because it wasn’t a secret that for many years Harry was unhappy with the limitations and over-exposure of his role. It isn’t a stretch to assume he and Meghan talked about that and everything else as they were getting to know each other. 🙄
But, yes, these people are writhing over the book’s contents. It’s fun to watch!
This is the media trying to shift directions and revise the “blame Meghan” narrative that they started in response to Sussexit. There’s definitely a scramble to prepare for whatever’s coming out in that book.
I remember Meghan saying, “My friends warned me about the BRF,” in the early stages of her relationship with Harry. H&M are very heart to heart and warmed immediately to one another. I would not be surprised if both discussed an exit within months of their relationship and began planning prior to an official engagement.
I think Meghan said that her friends warned her about the royal reporters and the tabloids, not the family.
You may well be right. I’ll stand corrected.
Yep, she said her American friends were happy for them, while her Brit friends told her if/not to marry him b/c the british tabloids will DESTROY YOUR LIFE!
I am sure they discussed it before marriage. At the very least, Harry probably said to her “being a royal isn’t that great, there are a lot of things that go along with it, I’ve wanted out but I stay for my grandmother.” They probably decided it would be a good opportunity and they could use their platform for good and to make a difference, and I imagine they were excited about that.
Harry has never really been quiet about not loving the royal life or his role as “the spare” – remember when…..Charlotte, I think?…was born? and someone asked him how he felt being farther down the line and he was like “I love it” or something.
I’ve said before on here but I think Meghan may have been the catalyst in that she was a successful person before Harry, with a strong sense of self, and had already used her bit of fame to do what good she could – UN, womens rights, etc – so she wasn’t tied to this idea of “royals do charity work.” She knew they could make a difference without being “working royals.” so I think if Harry had said “I’m not sure I want to be a working royal forever” she probably would have said “okay, well here’s what we can do instead.”
the notion that she was the one to say “we need to get out” has always struck me as sexist and racist. It was always Harry.
I agree Becks1 in that I think Meghan was a catalyst for Harry in many ways, not only in his decision to leave. I think the way Meghan lived her live really appealed to Harry and rang true to many changes he was hoping to make in his own life but lacked the support to do so. Once they met and got to know each other I think he found a lot of inspiration and support to become the person he wanted to become. Seeing someone blossom and grow is such a beautiful thing to see, it can be messy and is not always a straight or easy road but beautiful all the same.
Someone on twitter said that Harry was willing to leave the family that always treated him as “the spare” when he found someone who treated him like priority, and I think that was probably a big part of it.
@Becks1, I saw that too and thought it was the perfect description.
H&M thought Plan A was to be working royals, but there was always a Plan B, which was to leave and do their own thing. And Plan B was conceived of first by Harry, and agreed to by Meghan. Harry’s mother was in the process of trying to leave when she died, so her plans were never seen all the way through, but I think Harry may have known something about them. Harry has always thought of being in the BRF as having a job he doesn’t love (he said in the Queen’s birthday documentary that he never thinks of the Queen as “grandmother” but as “the Boss”). And once Harry saw how the British media was treating Meghan — exactly how they had treated his mother, as fodder, as meat to be fed to the masses — he decided, That’s it, we’re out. He blames the press for his mother’s accident and he refused to let Meghan be subjected to them in the way his mother had. I really think it was 80% Harry’s idea and decision to go, and Meghan enthusiastically supported her husband and helped conceive of how they could make it work.
As the ex-wife of a future king, Diana would always have been on the way out. If she had lived, given how she was changing, jerking around her charities, and dumping most of her charity work? She was looking to get out of the UK and move to a more private way of life. Regardless she’d have been sidelined as a working royal, as Alexandra in Denmark (ex-wife of Joachim) has finally been sidelined.
Diana would have found her own niche in the world. Much like Jackie Kennedy did.IMO anyway.
Yes she would have, but it wouldn’t have been as a working royal after she was divorced.
LOL they are really trying their hardest to get ahead of this book
It hilarious watching narratives closer to truth come out just to get ahead of a book that will likely contain the truth.
On Youtube, there is an intuitive tarot card reader from the UK named Kirstie Lewis. She did a reading for Meghan and Harry months ago and she said they talked to each other about leaving from the very beginning. Interesting!
They are just spinning Harry’s own interviews. He said in 2017 that he had previously thought of leaving his royal role but stayed to do good. He’s said a long time that he was uncomfortable with the press in England.
Going by their engagement interview whatever issues there were with the family, i guess they thought could use platform& maybe Meghan thought she could overcome doubts about her so that’s why she was keen 😉 & showed her work early with that cookbook project.
But when sabotage, internal leaks, press harassment became too difficult, started to look at workable plans that would ease tension with rest of the BRF. Again I think that’s where that April 19 shipman piece comes in.
Tides are turning. I expect to see questions about why TQ stripped Harry of his honorary military roles. It was mean and spiteful and playing to the tabloid press. Once again they took a short view, the military love him and no one else the RF in his generation has a military background.
I predict the military honors will be restored at the 1 year review. Liz or Charles will try to act forgiving but they will actually sorely be in need of the positive publicity gained by walking back some of their harsh treatment of Harry.
I hope you’re right. Stripping him of his military honours was spiteful and very hurtful to Harry. I wonder how he truly feels about Petty Betty doing this. What a slap in the face to an actual decorated veteran and “beloved grandson”.
Especially since Andrew was forced to step back because of his scandals, yet he still retains his military honours.
Not long after it was announced that Harry would lose his Royal Marines post, it was reported that Anne would take it on. That speculation did not last and then the one-year review language started. I wonder if they did try to replace Harry with Anne back then and, if so, what might have stopped it.
Why would Anne take it on? Has she ever served?
@arthist, Anne’s never having served in the military has not stopped her from having honorary military appointments before! She has them up the whazoo! Surely, you have noticed her “Lord Nelsoning” it before on horseback?!
It was widely reported in February of this year that Anne would be made the CG of the Marines. I am wondering if Philip is behind the post being yanked from Harry and, at least initially, offered to Anne; as, this post was PP’s for what, 50 years? Were they deferring to what PP wanted?
Maybe Anne said no, and to leave her out of it. Anne has steered clear and gotten on with her own work for decades.
Well, I don’t watch the Trooping so I didn’t know that Anne was gallivanting around in uniform despite not having served. It is ridiculous!
A commenter on jezebel.com suggested a new, more accurate term: “Harryvederci.”
I think it’s PERECT!
I’m so impressed with Meghan’s confidence and adaptability. She moved to Britain and embraced her situation and made it work, nothing half assed about it. And if there’s any truth to this story, everyone was on a kind of probation, unbeknownst to them, and boy did they fail spectacularly. Harry must be most disappointed in his own family and particularly William. I keep picturing his face at the Commonwealth service.
I think the lack of support was really a gut punch to Harry, especially after no one spoke out when that awful picture of Archie as a chimp was published. I still can’t get over that, it still just makes me sick to my stomach that I can’t imagine how horrible to was for Harry and Meghan to see that and then hear the silence from his family.
I’m still pissed that the BBC quietly re-hired Danny Baker a month later.
This isn’t really news, he’s been saying he doesn’t like the UK press and it made him not really like England. It’s right there on video. He said it while volunteering in Africa and again in his Afghanistan interview. All pre-Meghan.
Is this their way of saying “hey they wanted to leave even before they got married so don’t blame us for them stepping away”? Cause if so, it’s not working.
The cynic in me says the tabloids are softer on Meghan now because they are terrified of BLM protests showing up in front of their offices. This is motivated by fear of backlash from their overt racism.
The cynic in me is saying that they’ve also had a lot of time in lockdown to crunch the numbers on stories with their usual Meghan=Devil/Cambridges=Perfect narrative and realized that engagement is dropping. Naturally, they’ve been brainstorming to find more profitable storylines.
The more these tabloids continue to guess what that book is about, the more they tell on themselves.
From Camilla Tominey claiming Simon Case, William’s PR guy, was behind the Flybe economy flight photo op to this revelation, it’s apparent the UK press was privy to certain things and CHOSE to collude with the palace to make Meghan THE problem.
It also shows that they are scared of whatever is included in the book (which is embargoed until its release date in August) and are trying to damage control.
What ever comes out, it won’t nearly be as revealatory as that family’s inability to publicly support H&M after the wedding and having their courtiers brief against H&M to the UK press.
Omid has said no one knows what’s in the book, and I believe him. A graphic artist that did the cover retweeted Omid’s tweet and added that she didn’t even know. That said, I don’t believe they were planning on leaving prior to the wedding. I truly believe Harry thought his family would treat Meghan better because they loved him. He was wrong. We were all wrong. The BM want to whitewash things and make it seem that H&M never gave the BRF/UK a chance and were already planning to bounce regardless of the racist abuse heaped on Meghan.
Pre-Meghan, Harry wanted out but Meghan kept him in till the media through eggs at her. Harry said “ I told you so” and they both left. Harry’s not returning to royal work ever. I feel like I can state that with confidence.
Why didn’t Harry leave if he was so miserable? He could have gone to Africa which is his favorite place. Lots of commonwealth countries where he could have done a lot of useful work.
He has said recently that while he would love to make a home in different African countries (he was asked specifically about South Africa while there) that his life would be one of privilege and security among people who have neither. I think he also indicated that would be more disruptive than constructive to the people living there. I am paraphrasing so go back to the interview with Tom Bradby for his exact words. Even his exact words were carefully vague because of potential political implications. Basically someone who is in line to the British monarchy can’t just show up in “Africa” or any other commonwealth for that matter and start playing house. I hope i don’t have to spell out why that is a problem on so many levels, but especially in a commonwealth country that was heavily exploited, often violently, by the monarchy. Even settling temporarily in Canada caused many people to voice a variety of resentments and concerns.
Because Harry has the duty gene embedded in him. The only things that would make him leave would be the ongoing racist treatment of his wife and son, and/or something unforgivable done to either Meghan or Archie by William.
Given the current situation? If HM passes soon and something happens to Charles and William? That leaves Andrew in charge as Regent. The law hasn’t changed, Andrew not being a working royal doesn’t change that.
IMO Harry would only allow that to happen if William had said/done something completely unforgivable to Harry’s wife and son.
The Regent is the next adult in line of succession. The next adult in line after George is Harry. When Charles was born his designated Regent would have been Princess Margaret however a legal change was made in this case to allow Prince Philip to serve as Regent if the need arose. Philip was a born Prince with blood ties to the British royals and Margaret had no objection to him taking her place as designated Regent for Charles. My guess is that William has sought to remove Harry as designated Regent for George and replace him with either Anne, Andrew or Edward, probably Edward since he is significantly younger than the others. Removing Harry from his position as designated Regent would be a huge insult to him and probably hurtful too even if he agreed.
William cannot remove Harry as potential Regent without approval from Charles, Harry, and Parliament. Nor could he remove Andrew or Anne or anyone else without the approval of 1) the people higher up in the line of succession than the proposed regent and 2) Parliament.
Margaret agreed to having Philip as Regent, that’s the only way that was allowed to happen. Margaret and everybody else (the Kents, Gloucesters, etc.). It was less about Philip being way down in the line of succession himself, and more about QEII throwing him a bone (saying he was in charge of family matters).
IF Harry living outside the UK endangers his possible role as Regent? My point is, William isn’t the one making the choice. Harry made that choice himself in response to something William did. As in – Harry will no longer protect William’s children from Andrew because of whatever William did/said about Meghan and Archie.
I said back in December when they did not return to the UK during Christmas that something was afoot with the Sussex family-I didn’t think they would actually step down. When Stefanie Powers tried to berate Meghan for not doing the royal duty-This sounded so like Prince Charles talking-the royal family knew before Meghan came along that Harry was not truly happy with his royal role as a spare to the Heir. The royal family wanted Meghan to convince Harry to put those thoughts out of mind about leaving-when she decided not to but aided and abetted him in his decision to leave-the royal family turned on them using the tabs to try and destroy them. Meghan has the free spirit of living life-not just survive but thrive. Harry had someone in his corner that knew how he truly felt and helped him to leave. The rumor going around that she had asked constantly is this really what he wanted to do-like someone stated above calling their child a monkey at his birth just did it for them both-then the plans were being made by them while the press and the royal family was trying to stab them in the back as much as possible. By refusing to take meetings with Harry or Meghan about stepping down-these bad actors(royal family and tabloids) kept attacking and berating them . I really believe the straw that broke the camel’s back was the comment made about Archie after his birth in the tabloid press and noone from the royal family stood up for them.