How Prince Harry’s actions pushed Queen Elizabeth’s patience to the limit

It’s no secret that Prince Harry’s relationship with the Royal Family has been fraught with tension for years, a situation that regrettably extended to his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth.

In his latest book, A Voyage Around the Queen, author Craig Brown provides a candid exploration of this dynamic, revealing how the Queen’s feelings towards Harry quickly turned to frustration.

Brown recently discussed these insights in an interview with Starts at 60, shedding light on how the Queen’s demeanour towards Harry and his wife Meghan Markle changed over the years.

“You could see she was getting irritated by them,” Brown explained.

Prince Harry’s attempts to balance royal duties with a modern celebrity lifestyle often clashed with traditional expectations. One notable instance involved Harry’s visit to England, where he was expecting a personal audience with the Queen but ended up at a routine committee meeting instead.

“There’s a bit in Harry’s book where he comes over to England he thinks to arrange what things he’s going to be allowed to do carrying on as a royal,” Brown said.

“In fact, it’s a sort of committee meeting so I think she could be quite ruthless in the protection of the monarchy. And I think by the end she was seeing them as a sort of minor threat to the existence of the monarchy.

“And I think she had a belief that you’re either in the monarchy or you were out of it and you couldn’t really be a sort of freelance celebrity royal which obviously Meghan and Harry wanted to do.”

The Queen, known for her diplomatic prowess, often used understated language to navigate delicate matters, particularly with Harry.

Her famous phrase “recollections may vary” was a prime example of her skillful use of understatement to address issues without direct confrontation.

“That marvelous phrase of hers, which is very typically her in sort of understatement,” Brown said.

“And that’s a neat way of saying, you’re lying. But she’d say it in these sort of negative terms. So you couldn’t quite pin it on her but, it’s sort of British understatement I suppose.”

While the Queen did her best to remain diplomatic, Brown revealed there were moments when the Queen’s patience wore thin. By the end of her life, her feelings towards Harry and Meghan had become noticeably strained.

“I think by the end, she was getting a bit pissed off,” he said.