Why the Sandringham Summit became a ‘hard lesson’ for Prince Harry

When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle returned from their six-week Canadian sabbatical in early 2020, few could have predicted the chaos about to unfold. On January 7, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at the Canadian High Commission in London for their first official engagement in the new year – but onlookers suggested Harry seemed distracted. According to royal author Robert Jobson, the prince was preoccupied with thoughts of his family as he had just informed his father, now-King Charles, that he and Meghan wanted to redefine the terms of their royal responsibilities. He had pitched a ‘new semi-detached set up’ where they could ‘make their own money’ while keeping their HRH titles in a move that would ultimately split the royal family down the middle.

The following day, news broke that the Sussexes were heading back to Canada after a brief visit amid shocking claims that they were reconsidering their place in The Firm. The speculation that many saw as frankly inconceivable was later confirmed in a statement released on Harry and Meghan’s @sussexroyal Instagram that afternoon. The pair announced they would step back from senior royal duties and ‘carve out a progressive new role’ within the institution while splitting their time between the UK and the US. However, Mr Jobson claimed the announcement ‘had been made without the Queen’s approval’, leaving Her Majesty with the daunting task of resolving what was shaping up to be one of The Firm’s biggest crises to date.

Writing in his book, The Windsor Legacy, Mr Jobson noted how the Duke of Sussex, now 41, ‘presumptuously assumed’ that the late Queen would be supportive of their plans to be part-time working royalsbecause of his close bond with her. Yet while Her Majesty was ‘sympathetic’ to her grandson’s challenges, she was allegedly unimpressed with the Sussexes’ plan to ‘effectively cash in on their royal status’, Mr Jobson continued. ‘The answer from the top was clear: no halfway role was possible. They were either in or out.’

On January 13, 2020, the late Monarch gathered then- Prince Charles, Prince Williamand Prince Harry to discuss how best to navigate ‘Megxit’ during peacekeeping talks that were soon dubbed the ‘Sandringham Summit’ by the media. Meghan, now 44, was pregnant with her and Prince Harry’s firstborn, Prince Archie, and did not travel to Sandringham from Canada- although she was ‘reportedly set to join the discussions via video call’. However, ‘technical issues’ prevented her from participating in the meeting that day.

Intimate details of what exactly was discussed during the 90-minute conference in the Long Library remain shrouded in secrecy to this day, but the Sandringham Summit was highly ’emotional’, Mr Jobson claimed. The late Prince Philip, once Harry’s beloved ‘mentor’, was allegedly so enraged he refused to attend altogether, while William was ‘still seething’ over his brother’s behaviour and arrived ‘composed but distant’. As senior members of the Firm gathered for these unprecedented talks at the royal family’s Norfolk estate, the world held its breath in anticipation. The Daily Mail’s renowned royal expert Richard Kay wrote at the time: ‘Not since the dark days over Diana has there been such a sense of dread and unhappiness shrouding the Royal Family.’ Described by Mr Jobson as a ‘defining moment’ for the monarchy that highlighted ‘the personal cost of stepping away from it’, the Sandringham Summit illustrated the Queen’s absolute commitment to her role as its head.

According to the author, the Queen was ‘adamant’ that the royal couple ‘must be stripped of their patronages and banned from using their HRH titles personally and commercially’. ‘The idea of the couple earning millions by cashing in on their royal titles and status was abhorrent to her,’ he wrote in his book, Catherine: The Princess of Wales. Yet her personal sadness at her grandson’s departure from the royal fold was made clear in a statement issued shortly after the high-profile meeting. ‘Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family,’ Her Majesty said. Mr Kay wrote at the time of the announcement: ‘Not since 1997 in the aftermath of the death of Diana has the Queen issued such a personal bulletin.’ ‘For Harry, it was a hard lesson,’ wrote Mr Jobson.

While the prince had hoped for an outcome that benefited him and Meghan financially, ultimately, he was ‘forced to concede far more ground than he anticipated, in exchange for his and Meghan’s “freedom”‘. Any hopes of a ‘half-in, half-out’ agreement were firmly destroyed by the Palace’s statement that the Sussexes would be stripped of their HRH titles on January 19. Harry would lose his military appointments and role as Commonwealth youth ambassador, while the pair volunteered to forgo all access to the Sovereign Grant and public cash. The £2.4million ($3.2m) of taxpayer funds used to renovate the couple’s Windsor home, Frogmore Cottage, would also be repaid by the Sussexes. Meanwhile, Meghan’s Duchess of Sussex title was now merely ‘symbolic’ and would have ‘zero constitutional importance’.