Princess Eugenie contacted Prince Harry in the hours before the Queen’s death for more information on her condition, royal biographer claims

Princess Eugenie contacted Prince Harry while the Queen’s health declined in the hours before her death, a new book has claimed.

Details from Endgame, the new book about the Sussexes and the royal family by royal biographer Omid Scobie, claims the daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, 33, reached out to her cousin to try and understand more about their grandmother’s condition.

The contact came as the Duke of Sussex raced against time to Balmoral Castle, where the Queen had been in residence, to try and make it to her side before she passed away. Sadly, Her late Majesty died before Harry arrived.

Scobie writes in his book that Eugenie, who is a close friend of the Sussexes and has maintained a relationship with them since their move to Montecito, wanted to know if he had any more information on the Queen’s condition than that which had been shared with her.

The biographer writes that Eugenie had heard it was ‘time’, but didn’t have much more information, in a snippet of Endgame shared with People magazine.

A new book about the Sussexes and their rift with the Royal Family claims Princess Eugenie reached out to her cousin Prince Harry for more information when their grandmother Queen Elizabeth’s health began to decline

Harry and Eugenie have always shared a close relationship, and she has remained close with him and Meghan Markle in recent years despite his deepening rift with his brother Prince William and father King Charles.

In September, after the Sussexes had spent the week in Dusseldorf to host the Invictus Games 2023, they took a detour on their way back home to California to visit Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank in Portugal. 

It was reported at the time that they had a ‘lightning romantic escape to the village of Melides in the Alentejo region of the country – where Eugenie and Jack have a home. 

Prince Harry, 39, and Princess Eugenie, 33, have always shared a close relationship, and Scobie’s book claims the royal mother-of-two turned to her cousin for trusted information. Pictured: Queen Elizabeth’s grandchildren at a vigil at the Palace of Westminster 

Princess Eugenie is known to still enjoy a close relationship with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 

Now Scobie’s book gives further details into their close relationship as he claims Eugenie turned to her cousin for trusted information as their grandmother’s health declined.

Elsewhere, as the book recounts the day Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II passed away, it claims Harry was largely ‘kept in the dark’ about what was happening with his grandmother in the days leading up to her death.

Mr Scobie recounts how the Sussexes had visited the UK for a series of engagements in September 2022 when the palace announced that Queen Elizabeth had been advised by her doctors to rest.

The book Endgame recounts how the royal family assembled in the hours leading up to and just after the Queen’s death

He writes: ‘By the next morning, the Sussexes had no idea that Buckingham Palace was already planning for the Queen’s final hours and the first days of the monarchy’s new era — until the duke’s phone started ringing. An unknown number. He usually ignored those.’

Meghan told her husband to pick up the phone and he accepted the call ‘just before it stopped’, the author wrote.

He continues: ‘Harry hadn’t spoken to his father much that year, but this was not the time for any father-and-son tension. Charles told him he and Camilla were about to leave Dumfries House for Balmoral, where Princess Anne was already by the Queen’s side. He told Harry to make his way to Scotland immediately.’

Harry sent a text message to his brother William asking how he and Kate planned to Scotland and whether they could travel together but got no response, Mr Scobie claims.

He was later told Harry had managed to secure a flight with his uncles Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

‘It was upsetting to witness,’ Mr Scobie claims he was told by a source close to the Sussexes. ‘[Harry] was completely by himself on this.’

Mr Scobie alleges that Palace ‘sources’ briefed certain newspapers that Charles had personally shared the news of the Queen’s illness with his son. He quoted a friend of the duke who said this left Harry ‘crushed’.

The journalists makes fresh claims about the damaged relationship between William and Harry.

Mr Scobie even alleges that William ‘doesn’t want to know’ his younger brother, who he feels has been ‘brainwashed an army of therapists’.

He writes: ‘I was talking to a source quite early on in the process, and they called Harry a ‘defector’ and said that was William’s view.

‘These were two men who once upon a time were firmly aligned in their outlook. One of them had to move on to also protect the crown.’