Author Claims No One Helped Prince Harry and Meghan Markle When They Showed Signs of Unhappiness During First Year of Marriage
A royal author believes no one in the palace helped Prince Harry and Meghan Markle when they needed it most. Valentine Low, author of Courtiers: the Hidden Power Behind the Crown shared how the Sussexes showed signs during their first year of marriage that they were unhappy in the royal family.
The institution ‘tried hard to show flexibility’ with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, author says
During an Oct. 10 interview on Palace Confidential, Low shared his thoughts about how there was a “failure” by the palace to assist Harry and Meghan when they were struggling.
“I think it’s quite complex,” he said. “There was never going to be any common meeting ground, there was no compromise. So in a sense, I think it was inevitable that they should leave. But the tragedy was it was actually so acrimonious. It didn’t have to be so acrimonious.”
He continued, “I think the institution and the people who worked for them tried hard to show flexibility, to have a different way of working” and offered Harry and Meghan some “imaginative ways” for the couple to exist in the royal family.
Author says the palace ‘failure’ was in Harry and Meghan’s first year of marriage
Low went on to discuss the “failure” on the institution’s part. “But, where the institution went wrong is that, in about the first year or so of their marriage and in particular between January 2019 and about late summer-early autumn of that year, that was the period when Meghan and Harry — in particular Meghan — was deeply unhappy and they were obviously frustrated.”
He continued, “And no one had a big meeting in which they sat down and said, ‘Listen, this is going wrong, let’s talk about this, let’s work out how we can solve it.’ And they didn’t do that until it was too late. I think that was a failure on their part.”
Low added, “Yeah, Harry and Meghan could be difficult — I don’t think there’s any denying that but I don’t think the palace rose to the occasion either.”
Additional support for Harry and Meghan may have made the situation more amicable, author notes
During an Oct. 5 interview with Good Morning Britain, Low also discussed the challenging early year of the Sussexes’ marriage and the lack of support they received.
“I think with Harry and Meghan, [the courtiers are] not really to blame because they tried really hard to help Meghan, right from the beginning,” Low said. He cited two people “who made a lot of effort to try and accommodate them.”
He continued, “But there is a way in which the courtiers are to blame. So the people immediately around them were doing their best — these were people who could have believed in Harry and Meghan and they wanted to help.”
The author continued, “But there were signs early on in the first sort of year or so of their marriage, there were signs about how unhappy Harry and Meghan were and no one really did anything about that.”
He noted, “No one picked it up, no one flagged it up, no big discussions with the most senior courtiers in the institution.”
Low said the outcome would have likely been the same but wondered if some additional support could have made the situation more amicable. “I don’t think it would have made any difference in the sense that I think they still would have left because what Harry and Meghan wanted and what the royal family, what the queen felt able to give, I don’t think there was ever a meeting point,” he explained. “But, the big thing is it could have been done so much more amicably.”
