The Harry and Meghan saga took a ‘terrible toll’ on the Queen, reveals REBECCA ENGLISH

The finale of Harry and Meghan’s modern Elizabethan revenge tragedy concludes with our tough duchess reading the speech she wrote for her own wedding.

What a happy coincidence that he miraculously managed to find it on his phone under pressure from a Hollywood director who happened to be there!

In it, she talks about “the man I love and the way we met,” sweetly telling viewers, “Let’s call it a modern day fairy tale.”

Well, there’s no question who the hero and his princess bride are in this particular story (with entertainment mogul Tyler Perry lending the couple his private jet, home, and security team without ever meeting them, like the ultimate cash-splashing fairy godmother). ).

And the villains?

One step further, the Prince and Princess of Wales, openly portrayed as the ugly, jealous and mocking sisters, eaten up with envy of Meghan’s success and conspiring with the evil media to ensure her downfall.

There’s a scheming stepmother, naturally, married to a rather hapless father figure, content to live in studied ignorance of her son’s servitude in order to lead a quiet life. And then there is the Queen, who is not evil in this case, of course, but who is actively portrayed by her own grandson as a weak figure, manipulated by her family and scheming courtiers of hers.

I’m leaving: Meghan after the Commonwealth Service in March 2020: her last day as a working royal

In a terrifyingly venomous statement, Harry (who, let’s not forget, survived two frontline tours in Afghanistan) says, “It was terrifying to have my brother yell and yell at me and my father say things that just weren’t true.” True and my grandmother sit quietly there and take everything in.

‘You have to understand that from the perspective of the family and especially hers and her ultimate mission and goal and responsibility is the institution.’

Harry has always been interested in “protecting” his grandparents from their increasingly vitriolic tirades against the monarchy because he respected and revered his “commander in chief”. But for many in the family, those protests, particularly now, are looking weaker by the day.

I was told that although Her Late Majesty was devastated by her grandson’s actions, she had no qualms about making the difficult decisions that had to be made, whether it was personally ruling out his participation in the official Memorial events or casting him aside for a small role in her Platinum Jubilee.

Of course, she had seen her beloved father, King George VI, go through an equally painful saga with the abdication of her brother, King Edward VIII. And her mother really believed that the stress contributed to her father’s untimely death.

The queen was very sympathetic to Harry and Meghan’s desire to seek an ‘alternative’ life, if that is what would make them happy.

But it hurt, of course it did. She adored Harry, his mischievous humor, his natural empathy and zest for life, and she missed him desperately. In truth, she was very sympathetic to his and Meghan’s desire to pursue an ‘alternative’ life, if that’s what would make them happy. But the way the saga played out so acrimoniously was recently described to me as having taken a “terrible toll” on the Queen’s well-being in recent years, leaving her feeling “very low” at times.

She even confided, I am told, to a friend that she was secretly glad Meghan had not been able to attend her beloved Philip’s funeral last year, as she simply could not cope with the upcoming public drama, even though she was fond of him. . granddaughter-in-law. It is this that William, in particular, will find hard to forgive and forget, in addition to all the truly invective taunts he himself has now been subjected to at the hands of his brother and his sister-in-law.

A source told me recently that the ‘noise’ of recent years has been ‘really hard’ on the heir to the throne. “Honestly, it breaks her heart that such a painful family drama has played out on a global scale about the people who matter most to her in the world,” they said.

William, in particular, will find it hard to forgive and forget, as the “noise” of recent years has been “really hard” on the heir to the throne.

However, the same person also told me, optimistically, that they believed there was always ‘a hope’ that he and Harry could repair their relationship. “He’s his brother and actually has little tolerance for people who disrespect him.” Even now people are very careful what they tell them about Harry,” the source said.

The prince is a decent man and I personally think he will keep that door open forever. I would find it impossible to believe that there is anything these two brothers can say about each other that means they will never speak to each other again.

Of course, that was before yesterday’s brutal hatchet job, and the deafening silence emanating from Kensington Palace was a clear indication of how hurtful that had been.

There is no question to many of the key players in this sad and unfortunate saga that more could have been done on both sides. ‘Institution’, a word Harry spits out like poison on his tongue, did his best to accommodate the couple in his own amusing way, but almost certainly could have been less unwieldy.

And perhaps if Harry had allowed the family to work out their many problems over time in private, as the Queen so desperately wished before she died, an uneasy peace could have been brokered.

But Harry’s thirst for revenge, which is surely the only reasonable interpretation of his work on Netflix, has ensured that any hope of a fairy tale ending, modern or otherwise, hangs in the balance.