Prince Harry accuses palace of leaking Canada move
Prince Harry claims Buckingham Palace leaked his and Meghan Markle’s 2020 move to Canada, calling it a dead “giveaway” in the couple’s Netflix docuseries.
“It became clear that the institution leaked the fact that we were gonna be moving back to Canada,” the Duke of Sussex says in Episode 5 of “Harry & Meghan,” which began streaming Thursday.
Harry, 38, explains that he came to the conclusion after “contents of [a] letter” between him and his father, King Charles III, appeared in the press that January.
Because the couple’s previous plans to relocate to South Africa had been leaked, the former military pilot was initially hesitant to put anything in writing — but he did eventually email Charles, 74, his idea about Canada.
“He said, ‘I can’t do anything unless you put it in writing.’ So I put it in writing,” Harry recalls. “I sent him emails on the first, second and third of January. In one of those, I mentioned that if this wasn’t gonna work out then we would be willing to relinquish our Sussex titles if need be.”
The title tidbit made its way to the tabloids just five days later.
“That was the giveaway,” the prince says. “I was like, ‘Wow. Our story, our lives, literally got taken from underneath us.’”
Harry and Markle, 41, subsequently released a statement of their own.
“After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution,” the duo said at the time, sharing their intention to “step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family.”
They concluded, “[We’ll] work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.”
The couple and their son, Archie, now 3, then temporarily moved to Canada, followed by Los Angeles in March 2020 and ultimately Montecito, Calif., where they welcomed daughter Lilibet, now 1.
Harry, who clarifies that he never “blindsided” the late Queen Elizabeth II, recalls meeting with his family in 2020 to discuss his departure.
“It was clear to me that they planned it so that you weren’t in the room,” the prince says to his wife in the docuseries, adding that he was “given five options” to consider and chose to be “half in, half out.”
He continued, “it was terrifying to have my brother [Prince William] scream and shout at me, and my father saying things that just simply weren’t true, and my grandmother quietly sit there and sort of take it all in.”
In February 2021, Harry and Markle resigned from all of their royal duties.
Although the duke’s relationship with William, 40, remains strained, the siblings have reunited for Prince Philip and the Queen’s respective funerals, as well as a Princess Diana statue unveiling.
Harry doesn’t believe he’ll “get genuine accountability or a genuine apology” from his family, though, saying, “My wife and I, we’re moving on. We’re focused on what’s coming next.”