Vicious tabloids, pleas for help, and rumors of racism: Here's the
complete timeline of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s dramatic split from the royal family.
The royal romance between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle started in 2016 with a blind date arranged
by a mutual friend. The chemistry between them was real and immediate. Markle told the BBC,
More dates, including a trip to Botswana, soon followed, and it didn't take long for
the press to notice. The first tabloid to break the news of their relationship was the Express,
which published a story on Halloween 2018. This initial romance coverage was quite
positive and painted Markle in a flattering light. An anonymous source told the Express,
It didn't take long for the more salacious tendencies of the British tabloid press to
come out. Soon Prince Harry and Meghan Markle found themselves fending off an endless barrage of
racially and sexually tinged rumors and slurs. An official statement from Kensington Palace noted,
"Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markle's safety
and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her."
Kensington palace sources also told The Guardian that Prince Harry feared for the safety of Markle
and her family, who were being physically stalked and harassed by paparazzi. Even Markle's mother,
still living in Los Angeles, was hounded by photographers. A palace source told The Guardian,
As her relationship with Prince Harry grew more serious, Meghan Markle did what most
people do in a newly serious relationship: She tried to get to know his family. But
getting to know the royal family wouldn't be as simple as showing up at a weekend barbecue;
the family would demand more from a potential in-law than just a pleasant personality and
compatibility with their relative. And then there would be all the different cultural
expectations between a California-raised actor and a tradition-bound family of European nobles.
All this contributed to the perpetually awkward relationship between Markle and
her soon-to-be sister-in-law Kate Middleton. Royal expert Katie Nicholl told ET Online,
Meghan Markle didn't get to meet her future grandmother-in-law,
Queen Elizabeth II, until shortly before her engagement. And she didn't have much
time to prepare for the meeting, either. Instead, Harry made a snap decision one
day to swing by and make the introduction. Meghan recounted in the Netflix docuseries,
"I remember we were in the car and we were driving up and he's like 'You know how to curtsy right?'
And I just thought it was a joke."
And while the initial meeting was weird and stressful for Markle,
who compared it to a scene from the themed dinner-theater chain Medieval Times, she and
Queen Elizabeth developed a surprisingly easy rapport. A source told Us Weekly,
And while their relationship cooled a bit following Prince Harry and Meghan
Markle's decision to leave the royal household,
it remains one of Markle's warmest memories of her time with the family.
By late 2017, royal watchers suspected that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would eventually become
engaged. Markle's decision to not return to her role in the legal drama Suits was further evidence
that big changes were afoot. And in November 2018, everyone's predictions were confirmed.
If any members of the royal family had reservations about the upcoming marriage,
they studiously hid them, putting forward a unified show of support
for the couple. Prince William and Princess Catherine said in a statement,
No wedding would be complete without family drama, and the wedding between Prince Harry
and Meghan Markle — elegant and warm-spirited as it appeared to spectators — had its share of
behind-the-scenes family angst. For starters, Markle's own family life wasn't all sweetness
and light: Her parents are divorced, and while her mother's presence at the wedding was a source of
delight for many viewers, the absence of her estranged father — who'd been caught staging
photos with paparazzi — was conspicuous. Fortunately, Prince Charles was happy to
step in and support his future daughter-in-law by walking her down the aisle during the ceremony.
And because weddings tend to make already fraught relationships between relatives
worse, another tiff between Markle and Kate Middleton was almost inevitable. Fortunately,
they both realized what they were doing and quickly mended fences. Markle told Oprah,
"But … she owned it, and she apologized and she brought me flowers and a note apologizing."
If Meghan Markle thought being engaged to a royal was tough, she had no idea what
it would be like being married into the family. Despite her husband's entreaties,
the invasive tabloid coverage continued. Per Insider, there was a blatant double standard
between the way Markle's actions and those of her sister-in-law Kate Middleton were
judged. For instance, Markle's requests not to be photographed were described as snotty and selfish,
while Middleton was praised as down to earth and humble for making the same requests. On top of
that, Markle felt suffocated by restrictive royal press rules that effectively prevented
her from advocating for or defending herself. A royal insider told Us Weekly,
All of this took a terrifying toll on her mental health, and she revealed to Prince
Harry that she was having suicidal thoughts. Knowing she needed help,
she told the rest of the royal family she needed treatment, but they pushed back.
"And I was told that I couldn't, that it wouldn't be good for the institution."
If the relationship between Meghan Markle and her sister-in-law was fraught,
the tensions between their husbands were even more so. While Prince William publicly
expressed support for Prince Harry's new love and their eventual marriage, behind the scenes,
he expressed concern that the relationship was moving too fast and too publicly,
according to Cosmopolitan. Naturally, this did not go over well with Prince Harry,
who later accused his brother of not doing enough to make Markle feel included in the family.
Still, appearances are everything in the royal family, and while royal watchers noticed some
chilly body language between the two brothers in their public appearances,
the two attempted to put up a unified front. After Prince Harry and Meghan married, for instance, the
two brothers and their wives set up and operated a charitable foundation together — The Royal
Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex. But in 2019,
the foundation announced that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would leave the foundation
and start their own with transitional funding from the Royal Foundation. The foundation and the royal
family portrayed this as part of the natural evolution of the Sussexes' philanthropic focus,
but royal watchers couldn't help wondering if the rift was personal.
The birth of Prince Harry and
Meghan Markle's first son, Archie, in May 2019 brought with it a new level of drama and intrigue.
According to Us Weekly, the couple reported that they were not invited to pose for the
traditional first photo of their newborn outside the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital in London.
In addition, the couple denied reports that they had declined to give their son a royal title,
saying that the family denied him a title without explanation. This denial — wherever it came
from — had more than symbolic significance; A title would have brought him the right to
extra security, which would have been a welcome benefit for someone spending his
life in the public eye. And Markle hinted at an ominous reason for the perceived snubs:
"And also, concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born."
The pressure from the royal household and the media on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle didn't
let up after the birth of their son. In fact, it soon drove the couple to a near-breaking point.
"Because not many people have asked if I'm OK."
In late 2019, reports from royal sources revealed that the couple was planning a six-week break from
their royal duties and would be spending the winter holidays with Markle's mother in Canada.
The break must have been beneficial for them because upon their return in January 2020,
they announced their plan to make it permanent, saying they would
step back from their royal duties and be financially independent of the royal
family. This unconventional move reportedly blindsided the rest of the royal family.
Discretion and a stiff upper lip have long been guiding values for the British royal family.
No matter what was going on behind the scenes, royals were duty-bound to keep calm and carry on
as if everything were fine. So when Prince Harry and Meghan announced that they had scheduled a
sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey about their experience with the royal family, the rest of the
royal family was less than pleased. A source told Us Weekly that Prince William and Kate
Middleton were appalled by the move. As another royal insider explained to the publication,
None of this helped the difficult relationship between Prince Harry and his brother. But if
there was any silver lining to the conflict triggered by the interview,
it conclusively put to rest any possibility that Prince Harry and
Meghan Markle would return to the royal fold and resume their duties.
Having settled into a seaside home in southern California,
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have mostly put their old lives behind them and are now focusing
on building their new identities and careers. Looking back, Markle revealed to The Cut that,
try as they might, the couple could never have truly fit into the royal family, saying,
Their new lives have helped cool the tensions between the couple and the rest
of the royal family. In June 2022, Meghan and Harry returned to London to celebrate
Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee — their first public appearance with the royal family
since their departure. And in the couple's interview with Oprah, Markle clarified that
much of her misery was brought on by royal handlers, not her in-laws themselves, saying,