Prince Harry & Meghan Markle left the Royal Family a little more than four years ago, difficult as that may be to believe. The couple claimed to want out of royal life in order to embark on another journey, and at first it certainly appeared as if they did indeed seek to exist outside of the spotlight.

Fast forward to today, however, and that doesn’t still appear to be the case.

The Sussexes have spilled their entire truth about royal life through interviews, television series, and a book, all of which helped to push their relationship with the British monarchy into oblivion.

While Harry and Meghan have given reasons for leaving the Royal Family, some things that happened behind the scenes have been kept in the dark. One royal expert now claims that Queen Elizabeth II was the “final straw” for the Sussexes.

On January 8, 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made the shocking announcement that they were leaving royal life.

“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,” they said.

Prince Harry & Meghan Markle

“We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen. It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment. We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.”

“This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.”

Harry and Meghan concluded: “We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support.”

At the time, the BBC reported that neither Queen Elizabeth nor Prince William had been consulted before the statement was made public. Buckingham Palace was said to be “disappointed”; the senior royals “hurt.”

But the decision wasn’t made overnight.

The real reason why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left royal life

Just days after Harry and Meghan’s wedding, Jonny Dymond, the BBC’s royal correspondent, felt something was off.

“I mean, within days, really… There were stories coming out about how Megan behaved towards staff,” he said in the BBC documentary The Prince and the Press.

Camilla Tominey – who first broke the story of Harry and Meghan’s relationship, added – “We were getting briefings that all was not well, with the relationship between William and Harry, Meghan, and Kate, and the relationship between Harry and Meghan and the royal household.”

Harry and Meghan have previously explained that they had several reasons for leaving the Firm permanently.

In an interview with The Cut, Meghan opened up about when she and Harry decided to leave the UK. British press coverage scrutinized the Duchess, affecting her health and relationship with the royal hierarchy.

As Harry and Meghan’s lives— along with the rest of the Firm’s —were taxpayer-funded, the tabloids claimed the intense scrutiny was of “public interest.” As a result, the couple suggested they could work and earn their own money instead of being taxpayer-funded.

“We were upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy”

Meghan explained that “maybe all the noise would stop.”

Moreover, they appealed to the Royal Family to be able to leave the UK behind and instead move to another country in the Commonwealth, perhaps South Africa or Canada. Sadly, the answer was no.

“Anything to just … because just by existing, we were upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy. So we go, ‘Okay, fine, let’s get out of here. Happy to,’” Meghan recalled.

She added that their request wasn’t “reinventing the wheel” and that other Royal Family members had received the green light for the same arrangement.

“That, for whatever reason, is not something that we were allowed to do, even though several other members of the family do that exact thing,” Meghan said.

Harry, meamwhile, wrote in his memoir, Spare, about what they ‘fled’.

“When my wife and I fled this place, in fear for our sanity and physical safety, I wasn’t sure when I’d ever come back,” he wrote.

The safety issue – Harry claiming it would be unsafe to return to the UK with his wife and children – has been one of the main arguments for the Duke not visiting his home country with his family.

The reasons for their leaving have been many, but according to one royal expert, there was a specific moment that made Harry and Meghan decide that enough was enough.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s ‘final straw’ with the royals

In his book Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, released in 2018, royal expert and author Andrew Morton revealed that one specific photograph made Harry and Meghan feel like they didn’t have a future within the royal sphere.

The picture, taken in 2016, portrayed Queen Elizabeth II, Charles, William, and young George. It was the first picture released with the queen and her three heirs. Two years later, another picture of the four was released, and according to Morton, the Suussexes believed that the Royal Family was “conspiring against them.”