Prince Harry and the Prince George Video That Pushed Him ‘to the Edge’: ‘The Last Straw’
Relationships between Prince Harry and other senior royal family members were already strained in late 2019. Behind the scenes, he and his wife, Meghan Markle, were reportedly unhappy in their roles. Just months before announcing their exit from the positions, a video featuring Prince George released by Buckingham Palace reportedly pushed the Duke of Sussex “to the edge.” It was “the last straw” for Prince Harry, says a royal commentator.
Prince Harry was pushed ‘to the edge’ by a Buckingham Palace video
The Duke of Sussex reportedly was pushed “to the edge” by a Buckingham Palace video. It depicted Queen Elizabeth, Prince William, Prince George, and then-Prince Charles together as George stirred the ingredients for Christmas pudding.
“It was charming stuff, most notably young Geroge’s furrow-browed focus and vigor such that the late Queen, toward the end, pointedly gets out of the firing line,” said royal commentator Daniela Elser. However, “In an instance that gives new meaning to the phrase ‘conspicuous absence,’ there on her desk for [the 2019 Christmas address] were photos of William and Kate, now the Prince and Princess of Wales, and their kids, Charles and now Queen Camilla, Prince Philip, and George VI. Ten points for anyone who can guess what or who was missing?”
According to Christopher Andersen’s book Brothers And Wives, Harry and Meghan’s disappearance from the table had been a last-minute change. The blame lay with Queen Elizabeth, who reportedly removed Harry and Meghan’s photograph from its place of honor.
A formal portrait was revealed in January 2020 of the royal line of succession that finished the job. Elser wrote, “Within days of that portrait being released on January 3, Harry and Meghan would fly back to the UK. Within a week, the world would reel from them having pulled the grenade pin on Megxit.”
Prince Harry was ‘not valued’ by royal family, says commentator
Royal commentator Daniela Elser believes Prince Harry was “not valued” by the royal family. She claims the trio of slights, including the portrait, video, and Queen Elizabeth’s Christmas address, added up to bad news for the royal family’s spare.
“Whether the portrait, the pudding video, and the TV address were meant to be cutting slights or just a perfect example of Firm obtuseness. The result was the same. It was the icing on the pique cake, further proof of a ruthless institution that did not value Harry. (I’m guessing,” Elser wrote in an essay titled “Prince George Christmas video that pushed Prince Harry to the edge.”
“He had feelings, dammit. And pride. And, I’d assume, a little voice in his head telling him he deserved better than to be pointedly reminded how little he mattered by a family who, we have since learned, seemed wholly disinterested in his or his wife’s wellbeing,” she continued.
Royal commentator believes Buckingham Palace deserves some of the blame for Megxit
If Buckingham Palace had acted sensitively toward Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s plight, asked Daniela Elser, would the end result have changed for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex? “Of quite how tectonic the consequences would be for the crown. Not only now, but for decades to come if they were truly pushed to the edge?”
She believes that the crown didn’t have to agree with Harry and Meghan’s attitudes toward their roles within the monarchy. However, Elser believes there should have been a more “feelings-forward” play regarding the couple.
Nonetheless, Harry and Meghan went on to famously leave their royal duties behind in March 2020. The couple live in Montecito, California, with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
