ROYALS RUMBLED
5 times Meghan Markle and Prince Harry changed their story – from wanting to ditch their titles to leaving Royal Family
THESE are the five times Meghan Markle and Prince Harry changed their story - ranging from wanting to ditch their titles to leaving the Royal Family.
The Firm and millions of around the world are understood to be watching the second half of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's explosive Netflix docuseries, which was released today.
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The couple made a number of massive claims in the final three episodes - including that a Palace aide called Meghan a "foreign organism" while Prince William was said to have screamed at Harry during Megxit talks.
But the couple have already appeared to change their story in the latest episodes, too - here are the five moments.
Keeping in touch with the Queen
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During the second new episode Harry tells a heartbreaking tale about how he and Meghan were stopped from seeing his beloved grandmother, The Queen.
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But, it appears to contradict Meghan's claims in the explosive Oprah Winfrey interview that she often kept in touch with Her Majesty.
Speaking of his grandmother, Harry said: "She said, 'I have no plans for the week, why don't you come up and we'll have tea? Stay the night you and Meghan'."
The couple say the plan was set, until, Meghan added: "We were flying back from Vancouver straight to Heathrow.
"We were getting on the plane and an urgent, urgent message comes through to Harry saying, 'You are not allowed to meet Her Majesty. She has plans, she is busy all week'."
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Harry continued: "I said, 'Wow that's certainly the opposite to what she told me'.
"Once we were back in the UK I rang her and said, 'I'm now told that you're busy' and she said, 'Yes, I didn't know that I was busy'.
"I was like, wow."
But, Meghan had claimed last year that she still calls the Queen "just to check in" despite no longer being a working member of the Royal Family.
In the explosive tell-all Oprah Winfrey interview, the Duchess said: "I just pick up the phone and I call the Queen – just to check in.
“That’s what we do, it’s like being able to default to not having to every moment go, ‘Is that appropriate?’”
Moving plans 'foiled'
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In the same episode, Harry drops the bombshell that he and Meghan almost left the family twice before Megxit - but leaked information stopped them.
The prince said they had planned everything, and it was in motion for them to move to South Africa, until the press published the private plans.
The bombshell Netflix documentary also revealed...
- Meghan Markle's claim that a palace aide told her she was a 'foreign organism'
- How the Queen told Meghan to handle the drama with her dad Thomas
- Prince Harry claimed his brother William screamed at him during Megxit talks
- What Harry misses about the UK
- Follow our live blog here
But, it has previously been reported Harry and Meghan were being pushed by The Queen to skip the country for a while.
Speaking in the doc Harry recalled: "In 2018 we have already talked about maybe moving to New Zealand and that never transpired.
"Then, in 2019, we discussed us moving to South Africa to support charities and organisations in Africa."
Harry continued: "The Palace signed off on us moving to South Africa so my father's office knew about it - my brother's office knew about it and my grandmother's office knew about it.
"No one else knew - then it was leaked to The Times newspaper.
"That whole plan was then scrapped because it became public debate."
But, a royal expert's book highlighted how the Queen wanted the couple to spend a year or two in South Africa, where they could find a new role within the Royal Family.
The reported Her Majesty had “heard and read much of Harry and Meghan’s wish to live an ‘ordinary’ existence".
She was said to have known how special the country was to the Sussexes, and wanted to give them the “honour and responsibility” of a new role within the Commonwealth.
Their titles
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In the second episode of the doc, Harry says "the plan" was if he and Meghan gave up their royal working duties they would give up their titles as the Sussexes, too.
But, the couple still have their titles - with Meghan recently signing her picture book as the Duchess of Sussex - and they still use HRH.
Harry recalled how the couple planned to move to Canada as working royals in January 2020.
He said how they would be willing to give up their duties, and titles, if that didn't work out.
Harry said: "By the time I was speaking to my father from Canada, the family and their people knew that we were trying to find a different way of working for the minimum of two years.
"I was speaking to my father, 'This is the plan', and he says 'Can you put it in writing?' And I said 'I would rather not because of what happened last time'.
"And he said 'I can't do anything unless you put it in writing'.
"So I put it in writing, sent him emails on the 1st and the 2nd and the 3rd of January.
"And in one of those I had mentioned that if this wasn't going to work out, then we would be willing to relinquish our Sussex titles if need be.
"So that was the plan."
But, as they still go by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, that didn't happen.
Oprah Winfrey interview
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In the final episode the Harry and Meghan claim Oprah Winfrey reached out to them about an interview while they were in the UK.
But they previously said they had "no plan" after Megxit, and were forced to do deals.
Speaking of the explosive interview, the Duchess said: "Oprah had originally reached out to us through the communications director when we were at Kensington Palace.
"There was excitement. I remember that."
Harry added: "We were here for a year until we actually did it. And sitting down with Oprah was a reaction to what had happened that year."
But the couple had previously said they had "no plan" after quitting the Royal Family - and hadn't considered the megabucks deals until a friend suggested it.
And Harry said it was when he was told his security would be taken away that he realised he needed to quickly find a source of income for his family.
Speaking to Oprah about the streaming deal, the 36-year-old said: "We didn't have a plan.
"That was suggested by somebody else by the point of where my family literally cut me off financially, and I had to afford security for us."
Public interest v public engagements
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In the second episode, Harry claims the couple wanted to remove public interest around themselves - but the pair continued undertaking public engagements.
Speaking in the doc, Harry says when the couple looked to move to Canada in 2019 it was because they wanted "some breathing space".
Meghan added: "What I think is important is the pack of the Royal Rota is based there in London, so if we're not there, they can't cover what we're doing."
She said the other royals could be "on the front pages of all the papers", adding: "You can have it exactly the way you want it and we can just go about doing the work in the name of the Queen."
Harry said: "If you want us to go and do things on behalf of the Queen, we'll go and do it and we'll pay for it ourselves.
"We don't want to be dependent on any taxpayers' funding. Guess what - you get us, but you get us for free, and this was years in the making.
"We really wanted to remove the supposed public interest argument that the press had over every element of our lives.
"Their argument was if you have even 1 per cent of public funding, any part of your life, then we can basically claim public interest, we can invade your privacy because you have public funds supporting you."
But the couple continued to do public engagements, including as royals.
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The Sussexes have also recently been dubbed hypocrites by a royal expert who claimed the years of pleading for privacy had been quashed by the tell-all documentary.
Buckingham Palace said at midday: "We will be making no comment on today’s Netflix programmes."
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