Queen Elizabeth's Christmas snub that left Meghan Markle, Prince Harry 'furious'

A major Christmas “snub” reportedly played a pivotal role in Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s decision to step away from royal life and forge “their own path.”

According to reports, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were left feeling “furious” following Queen Elizabeth II’s Christmas Day speech in 2019, after noticing a conspicuous absence among the family photographs displayed during her festive address.

As the late Queen delivered her speech from the Green Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace, viewers spotted framed images of senior members of the Royal Family but there was no photograph of Harry, Meghan or their newborn son, Archie.

The apparent omission is said to have been the “final straw” for the couple, who only weeks later announced their decision to step down as senior working royals and pursue financial independence.

In their 2020 book Finding Freedom, authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand claimed the Sussexes believed the move signalled something far deeper than a simple oversight.

The authors alleged that Meghan and Harry felt the Royal Family was “conspiring against them” and deliberately sidelining them. The book stated that the couple felt they had “been sidelined by the institution and were not a fundamental part of its future”.

Scobie and Durand wrote: “One didn't have to look further than the family photos displayed during the Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day.”

“In the Green Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace, where the Queen delivered her address, viewers glimpsed photos of the [Waleses] and their children, Charles and Camilla, Prince Philip, and a black-and-white image of George VI. Noticeably absent was a photo of Harry, Meghan, and their new baby, Archie.”

According to the authors, Meghan and Harry interpreted the moment as “yet another sign that they needed to consider their own path”.

The Christmas of 2019 was already an unusual one for the Sussexes. Rather than spending the festive period at Sandringham, where they had joined the Royal Family in 2017 and 2018, the couple chose to spend Archie’s first Christmas in Canada with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland.

It marked only the second time Harry had spent Christmas away from his royal relatives. The first occurred in 2012, when he was serving on a military tour in Afghanistan.

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