When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry decided to step down from their roles as senior members of the royal family, they made their announcement in thoroughly modern fashion.
The couple took to Instagram to share the move, and insiders claim that the rest of the royal family received the news at the same time as the public.
Not only were the other royals not consulted, sources claim, they weren’t even given any warning about the announcement.
Of course, knowing what we now know about the shoddy treatment that Meghan received from the royals, it makes perfect sense that she and Harry would want to skip town without giving their adversaries much in the way of advance notice.
It’s long been rumored that the Queen and company were greatly displeased by the manner in which “Megxit” unfolded.
But it seems that Elizabeth’s reaction was quite mild when compared to her husband’s.
Christopher Andersen is the author of a new book entitled Brothers and Wives: Inside the Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry and Meghan.
According to excerpts published this week by UK tabloid the Mirror, Prince Philip was “furious, deeply hurt, spitting blood” when he learned of Harry and Meghan’s decision.
Previous reports have indicated that Philip was skeptical of Meghan from the very beginning of her relationship with Harry.
But Andersen claims that’s not the case.
According to his version of events, Philip was an early defender of Meghan’s who felt betrayed when she and Harry decided to step down.
“It appears as if, we were wrong about her all along,” Philip reportedly said during the first post-Megxit meeting of “the Firm” (the name used to describe the handful of royals who have retained their good standing with the Queen).
Andersen says that Prince Charles was equally furious about the announcement.
According to a member of his staff, Charles’ reaction to the statement was “frightening”
Charles allegedly had a heated phone conversation with Harry after the announcement, in which he told his youngest son to “try and fix this.”
Of course, he probably should have been more specific, since it seems like Harry’s idea of how to “fix this” was to relocate to America.
But as angry as Charles might have been, it seems that no one lost their cool quite like Philip, who reportedly ranted and raved to his staff while refusing to have any contact with Harry or Meghan.
When Philip passed away last year at the age of 99, Meghan did not attend his funeral, as she was pregnant with daughter Lilibet and unable to make the trip from Los Angeles.
Even though she was thousands of miles away, Meghan is now being accused of distracting attention away from the Duke of Edinburgh on the day he was laid to rest.
Royal commentator Daniela Elser has accused Meghan of leaking details of the funeral to the press, including specifics about the wreath that she and Harry sent to the funeral.
“The appearance here is that even at this moment of mourning someone Sussex-adjacent has seen the wreath and Meghan’s note as an opportunity to drum up some good PR, hardly edifying stuff,” Elser wrote this week.
Seems to us that the real story here is that even in the context of reporting on a funeral for an elder statesman, the British tabloid press can’t break its Meg-bashing addiction.
But that doesn’t make for a very catchy headline.