The Queen didn’t allow Prince Philip to get involved in the discussions regarding the exit of Meghan and Harry from the family and their future as royals, according to royal author Ingrid Seward. In January, the monarch called an emergency meeting in Sandringham following the bombshell statement issued by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on Instagram, in which they announced their intention to carve out a new role for themselves within the Royal Family.
According to Ms Seward, the Duke of Edinburgh was painfully aware of their desire to create a “half-in, half-out” position – and deemed it “impossible”.
However, the Queen preferred to keep him out of the discussions and asked Penelope Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma and close friend of the Duke, to drive him out of Sandringham House just minutes before the meeting started, Ms Seward added.
In her new biography Prince Philip Revealed, the author wrote: “The Queen refused to allow their shenanigans to get to her husband.
“So, when she called an emergency summit at Sandringham on January 13, attended by her son the Prince of Wales and grandsons Prince William and Prince Harry, as well as their senior advisors, she asked one of her house guests, Countess Mountbatten, to drive him away from the house at least for the duration of the meeting.
“While they sat in the long library on the ground floor and thrashed out a solution that would allow Harry and Meghan their freedom without bringing the Royal Family and the Crown into disrepute, Philip remained out of the way.
“Buckingham Palace later released an unusually personal statement from the Queen saying that the family were entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family.”
During the meeting, dubbed Sandringham Summit, Prince Harry agreed on relinquishing his and Meghan’s rights to carry out royal duties and style themselves as HRH.
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He also agreed on no longer using the branding Sussex Royal and to have the so-called Megxit deal reviewed in March 2021.
Prince Philip, Ms Seward also wrote in her book, “grieves” the fact that not all members of the Royal Family have his sense of duty.
She wrote: “As a result, it grieves Philip that many younger members of the Royal Family do not appear to share his values.”
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The Duke also struggles to comprehend the reasons behind Meghan and Harry’s decision to step down as senior royals and to leave the UK, the authors added.
She continued: “He has struggled greatly, for example, with what he sees as his grandson Harry’s dereliction of duty, giving up his homeland and everything he cared about for a life of a self-centred celebrity in North America.
“He has found it hard to understand exactly what it was that made his grandson’s life so unbearable.
“As far as Philip was concerned, Harry and Meghan had everything going for them: a beautiful home, a healthy son, and a unique opportunity to make a global impact with their charity work.”
These revelations come as an insider claimed Prince Philip and the Queen’s age and health may be among the main reasons for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to visit the UK this December.
The source told Vanity Fair: “Time will tell if that will need to happen and if it could potentially impact what they do and when.
“But they are all eager to get back to spend time with Harry’s family and for Archie to see his great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II and great-grandfather Prince Philip in particular.”
