Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 's lives have been rather uneventful since they decided to step back from their royal duties back in 2020. And whilst there have been a number of veiled jabs at the Royal Family ever since their exit, one royal historian has claimed that one moment in particular caused the late Queen to "hit back" at the couple.
According to The Mirror, in Robert Lacey's book Battle of Brothers, the author wrote that the decision made by the Sussexes to commercialise under their own royal trademark prompted the Queen to put a stop to it as the couple were acting without her permission.
Lacey claims Meghan and Harry's decision to sell merchandise under their own royal trademark 'Sussex Royal' without the Queen's go ahead was a step too far and caused the "family to finally hit back".
However, members of the royal family and The Firm in particular producing their own goods isn't a new concept. King Charles sells various organic products in his Duchy Originals range and royal residences across the country sell souvenirs that visitors can purchase.
Despite this, the issue with Harry and Meghan surfaced when they failed to get consent from Harry's late grandmother before they announced their plan. It is said that the pair have spent thousands of pounds trademarking a number of products which ranged from T-shirts to bandanas.
Lacey wrote: "Once again Harry had totally failed to consult the Queen about a major initiative affecting his royal work and image — and the image of the crown as a whole. The family finally hit back. Elizabeth II had always had a soft spot for Harry, and she had been delighted by the arrival of Meghan, whose personal energies seemed to complement her grandson’s so well.
"As Head of the Commonwealth and reigning over an ever more multicultural society in Britain, the Queen had especially welcomed the exciting new dimension that a mixed-race recruit brought to the Windsor identity — and as we shall see later in this series, she herself had spotted when things were going wrong, and had helped devise a strategy she firmly hoped would make things easier for the couple.
"But there were some matters on which Elizabeth II would not compromise — and chief among them was the authority of the crown. By not disclosing their plans to market merchandise under their own royal trademark, Harry and Meghan had trespassed dangerously on that authority. To commercialise the crown required the crown’s consent — and the Sussexes had not sought that."
This isn't the only time the pair allegedly came to blows with the late Queen behind palace walls.
In the book, The New Royals by Katie Nicholl, the author has said that there was another incident of "tense" exchange and the late monarch was forced to speak with the couple about their behaviour.
In the book she claimed that on one occasion in the run-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding, Meghan went to Windsor Castle for a menu-tasting and clashed with one of the caterers over a dish which was supposed to be vegan.
Nicholl wrote: “Meghan was at the castle to taste some of the dishes and told one of the caterers she could taste egg. She got quite upset, saying that the dish was meant to be vegan and macrobiotic, when suddenly the Queen walked in and said: 'Meghan, in this family we don't speak to people like that.'”
And it seemed tension was building during the planning of the couple's 2018 wedding as Tina Brown wrote in her book The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor, the Truth and the Turmoil that Meghan used the late Queen's trusted aide and close friend, Angela Kelly, like a Hollywood stylist.
She writes: "Meghan did not - or could not - perceive the difference between the Queen’s personal aide and a contract stylist at NBC Universal." There have been numerous reports of a row over Meghan's wedding day tiara, with Harry reportedly saying "what Meghan wants, Meghan gets" after she was refused permission to wear her first choice.
A source told Brown there was "lots of raging" in the lead up to their wedding and that Meghan would shout in front of staff. The author added that she was told that Meghan and Harry share a mutual addiction to drama.
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