Prince Harry's comments on the Royal Family came at 'insensitive' time for the Queen who 'was on borrowed time'

Sources close to the late Queen Elizabeth II have spoken about how Her Majesty really felt about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s ongoing comments and discourse during the last months of her life. Despite always publicly supporting the pair, calling them “much loved” family members, the Queen felt “devastated” and “bewildered” by the increasing attacks, especially when the Oprah interview took place when Prince Philip was in the hospital.

• The Queen, dealing with Prince Philip in the hospital and reported health conditions herself, felt “bewildered” by Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview and subsequent comments.
• While Her Majesty always publicly supported her grandson, when she was  “on borrowed time” and knew she was ill, news of his memoir and further attacks on the Royal Family left her “devastated.”
• In other royal news, Queen's 'wicked' sense of humor revealed by former employee who describes the unlikely utensil she used to prank him.

For the Queen, Harry and Meghan were “always… much-loved family members.” This was the public line taken by Her Majesty following the sensational Oprah interview, and similar comments made about the royals from Harry and Meghan.

However, the Telegraph have spoken to numerous sources close to the Queen to find out what was really going on during her last few months alive.

It’s suggested that, in private, the Queen was “devastated”, “bewildered” and “disappointed.”

Moreover, the timing of some of the key moments in Harry and Meghan’s campaign were seen as “insensitive.”

First, there was the bombshell Oprah interview which came when the Queen was worrying about Prince Philip, who had been in hospital for three weeks at the time.

But more than that, according to Gyles Brandreth’s newly published biography, Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, the late monarch had been diagnosed with a form of myeloma, or bone marrow cancer, which caused the tiredness, weight loss and mobility issues she faced during the last years of her life.

As one insider is quoted, “The late Queen not only knew the Duke’s health was failing but also her own. It became clear that she was on borrowed time as she began to tie up loose ends. That’s what made the Sussexes’ behaviour doubly difficult to deal with. The timing could not have been more insensitive.”

Gyles’ book insists that the Oprah interview didn’t rile up Her Majesty too much, having dismissed it as “television nonsense”, but insiders agree the Queen was incredulous at the persistent damage Harry and Meghan appeared willing to inflict on their own family, including the announcement of a memoir.

She was said to have questioned why they continued attacking the very institution “that had given them so much”.

She also echoed her staff’s disbelief at Harry and Meghan’s tale of abandonment when the perception from the top down was that “everyone had bent over backwards for the couple”.

The announcement of Harry’s memoir is said to have “appalled” the Queen the most, however.

There’s precedent to believe this – Her Majesty had famously struggled to forgive her former governess, Marion Crawford, for publishing The Little Princess, a book about her time looking after Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.

The same sort of exploitation coming from family left the Queen to have her guard up with her grandson, people suggest.  

Seemingly given weight behind the theory that the Queen didn’t trust Harry not to spill secrets of their meeting when Harry secretly visited her before his appearance at the Hague, the Duke of Sussex would go on to publicly talk about their meeting days later – and some of his choice comments caused ire at the Palace.

Speaking at the Invictus Games, Harry told the Today Show, “It was so nice to see her. She’s on great form. She’s always got a great sense of humor with me. And I’m just making sure that she’s, you know, protected and she’s got the right people around her.”

He also added, “We have a really special relationship. We talk about things that she can’t talk about with anybody else.”

Many took umbrage at these comments, especially after staff had given up being able to spend time with their own families to form a Covid secure bubble around Her Majesty.

While the Queen never publicly stated anything despite her love for Harry and Meghan and their children, one final point which people believe give credence to Her Majesty’s true feelings is how she supported their exit from royal life.

Tom Bower, author of Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors, told the Daily Telegraph, “You only have to look at the Sandringham agreement to see what the late Queen’s thinking was. She approved their total expulsion from royal life. She wouldn’t have done that if she had a wholly benign attitude towards them.”