KEY POINTS

  • Prince Harry and Meghan's portrait was missing in Queen Elizabeth's 2019 holiday broadcast
  • The Queen allegedly ordered an aide to remove their portrait during the recording
  • Prince Harry and Meghan announced their royal exit a month later

A new book suggests that it was Queen Elizabeth who triggered Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s decision to leave the royal family. In the book “Brothers and Wives: Inside the Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry, and Meghan,” author Christopher Andersen claims that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the decision after the matriarch of the British royal family ordered an aide to remove their family portrait off camera before she recorded her 2019 holiday broadcast.

According to the book, Queen Elizabeth “looked over the tables where the photographs she had so lovingly selected were arranged.” However, the director allegedly remarked that everything was fine, except the portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

“That one, I suppose we don’t need that one,” the director allegedly said. The book claims that Queen Elizabeth then ordered a royal aide to eliminate the said portrait.

Asked for comments about the incident, a spokesperson for Queen Elizabeth told The Post, “We don’t comment on books of this kind as to do so risks giving it some form of authority or credibility.” Prince Harry and Meghan’s spokesperson also refused to comment on the story.

The Queen’s alleged snub of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex came as Prince Harry chose to spend Christmas with his wife and mother-in-law, Doria Ragland, in Canada rather than the U.K. That was the first time the Duke of Sussex spent the holidays away from the royal family.

Meanwhile, the book also claims that when Prince William watched Queen Elizabeth’s televised message with other close relatives and noticed that Prince Harry and Meghan's photo was missing from the lineup, he was stunned. An insider said Prince William confided in his wife Kate Middleton at the time, saying his brother might be “terribly upset” to realize their photo had been removed from the lineup.

According to the book, Prince Harry allegedly confided in a pal after the incident, saying he felt as if he and his wife were being “erased” from the royal family. A week after the incident, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex negotiated the final terms of their escape strategy from royal duties and left the U.K. to move to North America.

In becoming a republic, tiny Barbados, with a population of just under 300,000, could start a domino effect in Queen Elizabeth's 14 remaining Commonwealth realms outside Britain
In becoming a republic, tiny Barbados, with a population of just under 300,000, could start a domino effect in Queen Elizabeth's 14 remaining Commonwealth realms outside Britain POOL via AFP / ANDY BUCHANAN