Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s final straw with royals after ‘photo snub’

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle decided to pull the plug on their senior royal roles once they were 'snubbed' from a certain heir photo released by Buckingham Palace, according to a royal author.

The Duke and Duchess are said to have believed the Royal Family was “conspiring against them” after the late Queen Elizabeth II released a photo with her three heirs - the then Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince George in the throne room at Buckingham Palace.

In the official photo released at the beginning of 2020, Prince William is standing behind Queen Elizabeth and King Charles is behind Prince George with his hand on the young Prince’s shoulder.

The late Queen stands at the front of the image in a white dress accessorised with a blue brooch and holding one of her iconic handbags.

The first portrait of the four royals together was released in April 2016 to mark the Queen's 90th birthday.

Although it was clear that many factors contributed to their decision, including incessant media attention and Meghan's failure to feel at home in the UK, author Andrew Morton claimed in his book that a picture released around the same time may have caused friction.

Royal author Andrew Morton wrote in his book ‘Meghan: A Hollywood Princess’: “The royal couple suspected that the entire institution was conspiring against them. As they saw it, the evidence was all around them. The unspoken code was straightforward: the future of the monarchy was assured, with or without Meghan and Harry.”

Two days after its release, Harry and Meghan revealed that they would be officially leaving the Firm.

The royal author also claims Meghan and Harry had thought about leaving The Firm far earlier than the public had thought as talks started just six months after their wedding day.

Mr Morton said: “Harry was having conversations in a London hotel with Oprah Winfrey back in November 2018, just six months after they'd been married. So they were thinking about a different direction of travel pretty early on."

In a move that shocked the world, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped back as senior members of the Royal Family in 2020.

Nearly four years later the Sussexes and the rest of the royals are still estranged, with Harry and Meghan continuing to build their own life away from the royal spotlight.

However, some of their recent projects, notably their Netflix documentary series Harry & Meghan and the Duke's memoir Spare, have reignited old wounds.

In his book, Harry accused his family of treating him and his wife poorly, with his stepmother Queen Camilla and older brother Prince William coming in for especially harsh criticism.