Boris Johnson has revealed that while Prime Minister he tried to dissuade Prince Harry from leaving the UK with his wife Meghan.
Harry and Meghan announced in early January 2020 they were stepping back as senior working royals.
The announcement - made on the couple’s Instagram five months before they moved to California - sent shockwaves through the Royal Family.
At a charity function the following fortnight, Harry gave an emotional speech explaining that he and Meghan were standing down from the royal family with "great sadness", but he felt there was "no other option".
Mr Johnson has now revealed how he was “made” to give Harry a “manly pep talk” just hours after Harry gave the speech.
The former Prime Minister made the revelation in his new memoir Unleashed, which is to be serialised in the Daily Mail.
The paper quotes him as recalling: “A ridiculous business... when they made me try to persuade Harry to stay. Kind of manly pep talk.”
“Totally hopeless,” he added.
Mr Johnson and Prince Harry reportedly met one-to-one for around 20 minutes, on the fringes of the government’s UK-Africa Investment Summit, in the Thames Docklands area.
But the discussion was fruitless, and Harry and Meghan moved to California in June 2020.
According to MailOnline, a friend of Mr Johnson’s said he had praised Harry’s involvement in the Invictus Games, along with Meghan’s charity work.
“He thought they were a great asset to UK plc and it was a real shame they were leaving when they were doing such great work,” the friend reportedly said.
“It was a man-to-man conversation, they were totally alone. But Harry wasn't for turning – he was unpersuadable by that point.
“Boris succeeded in delivering Brexit but even he couldn't stop Megxit.”
Harry and Meghan’s decision to step back as senior members of the royal family and “work to become financially independent” came after a difficult couple of years for the couple.
The couple, who married in May 2018, made an emotional appearance in a documentary in 2019 in which they discussed the pressures they faced in the public eye. Harry also issued a damning statement against the media accusing sections of the press of bullying his wife.
