Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were said to be "furious" following a Christmas snub from the Royal Family , leaving them certain they needed to make their "own path". The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from The Firm in 2020 after one particular moment was the "final straw" for them just one year earlier. The couple spent the 2019 festive period in America with Meghan's mother Doria Ragland and they were allegedly left "furious" during the late Queen Elizabeth's Christmas broadcast.
As the monarch addressed viewers, family portraits were clearly visible on her desk. However, one was missing as there was no picture of Meghan and Harry with their then-newborn son Prince Archie . In the book Finding Freedom, authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand claimed the Sussexes believed the Royal Family were "conspiring against them" with the move.
They said the couple felt they had "long been sidelined by the institution and were not a fundamental part of its future". They wrote: "One didn't have to look further than the family photos displayed during the Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day. In the Green Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace , where the Queen delivered her address, viewers glimpsed photos of the [Waleses] and their children, Charles and Camilla, Prince Philip , and a black-and-white image of George VI.
"Noticeably absent was a photo of Harry, Meghan, and their new baby, Archie." The authors said palace sources insisted the photos were chosen to represent the "direct lin.