Prince Charles and Prince William didn’t think Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were serious when they said they wanted to step down from their senior royal duties, Battle of Brothers author Robert Lacey tells Us Weekly.
Lacey says: “Harry had been talking to his father and brother. Saying, ‘Look, we’ve come to the conclusion we quite like Canada. We’d like being on the side of the Atlantic. We think we want to stay here for a bit, but we think we can still say Royal.'”
Lacey adds that Harry’s notion of developing the Sussex Royal brand as a “sort of compromise, a new form of … expatriate monarchy” was brushed off.
He adds that the conversation was “sort of offhand. They didn’t quite believe they were serious. It’s like, ‘Put it down on writing paper or chap, you know, sends us an email and we’ll think about it.’ And we know this cause Harry himself and the other palaces have agreed that, like, this must have happened.”
William was also reportedly peeved by the way Meghan and Harry handled the announcement of the birth of their son. An official statement from Buckingham Palace noted that she had just gone into labor, when in fact, we had already welcomed Archie, Lacey tells Us.
They were, of course, quite serious, and now live in L.A. Since officially stepping down, Harry and William’s relationship has reportedly been strained. William “did not think too highly of Harry and Meghan’s ‘prima donna’ manoeuvres sic to conceal the birth of their son,” Lacey claims.
His wife Kate Middleton apparently agreed, and the pair waited “a full eight days” to meet Archie.
CHECKING IN
Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan are continuing their conversations about creating safe online communities. On a special edition of Time100 Talks, they discussed what checking in with people means these days.
“I think when people ask, 'How are you?' I sense, you know, it's a case of 'Really, how are you?' Before this year, I think everyone sort of throws that term around and everyone's satisfied with a 'Yeah, I'm good. I'm fine, thanks.' And then it's moving on to something else,” Harry said. “But I think you're quite right. This year, more so than ever, it really is a question of 'No, no, no. Actually, how are you?' “
Meghan said: “All things considered, everyone is grappling with a different version of the same thing. For us, we're trying to embrace all of the quality time we get with our son right now and to not miss a single moment of his growth and development, which has been really special.”