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MEGHAN Markle had every opportunity to be a perfect asset to the Royal Family who welcomed her in - but "threw it in their faces", slammed an expert.

Charles Rae, a legendary former royal correspondent, told The Sun's Royal Exclusive show how the duchess "blew it" for herself and Harry.

The duchess had every opportunity to be an asset to the royal family, an expert claimed
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The duchess had every opportunity to be an asset to the royal family, an expert claimedCredit: AFP
The late Queen Elizabeth II with Meghan at a ceremony to open the new Mersey Gateway Bridge on June 14, 2018 in Widnes, England.
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The late Queen Elizabeth II with Meghan at a ceremony to open the new Mersey Gateway Bridge on June 14, 2018 in Widnes, England.Credit: Getty
Meghan, Harry, Prince William, and Princess Kate watching a flypast to mark the centenary of the Royal Air Force in 2018
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Meghan, Harry, Prince William, and Princess Kate watching a flypast to mark the centenary of the Royal Air Force in 2018Credit: Getty

Speaking to The Sun's Royal Editor Matt Wilkinson, Rae claimed the Sussexes had potential to be hailed in the same way as Britain's beloved Prince of Wales and Princess Kate.

"We wanted to give her a chance," said Mr Rae.

"She had everything really, she was American, she was an actress, and she was good looking.

"She had all the right attributes to be a good member of the Royal Family and she blew it.

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"Catherine hasn't blown it, she's been a huge asset to that family."

He touched on the royal mum-of-three's strength and bravery amid her and King Charles' cancer diagnoses.

They were lorded at one time, there was great hopes for the pair of them

Charles Rae

When the royal expert was asked whether he thought Meghan and Kate were treated any differently, Mr Rae said: "I don't think they were at the start, I think when you saw Meghan with Harry out and about the crowds were 10 to 12 deep back in the good days of royal walkabouts.

"It started to go wrong when we started to hear about Meghan having a few strops here and there. Did she make Catherine cry? Did she make Charlotte cry?

"It all went wrong when they decided to up sticks and go."

The couple announced Megxit in 2020, when they stepped down as senior royals.

Harry should be William's key adviser. That's out of the window. It would break Diana's heart says royal expert

They relocated to their £11million Montecito mansion in California with their son Archie.

Speaking of the possibility the Sussexes could become a lorded and integral part of the Royal Family, he added: "I think that ship has sailed.

"They were lorded at one time, there was great hopes for the pair of them.

"Given that problems she had for her own father, the king walked her halfway down the aisle at their wedding - that was really touching - I think she was given every help and everything she could possible have to make her root in the family as clear and clean as possible.

A timeline of Prince Harry and William's 'feud': Brothers 'at war'

In 2018, the Sun told how "simmering tension" began when William questioned the speed of Harry and Meghan's engagement.

The first hints of friction reportedly came after William was introduced to Meghan when she was staying at Kensington Palace.

Once she'd returned home to Canada, William and Harry sat down for a brother-to-brother chat.

He knew Harry was already head-over-heels for her but it has been claimed he advised him to take it slowly.

The younger prince reportedly didn't take too kindly to the advice, with one royal source saying he "went mental".

Then in June 2019 Harry and Meghan officially split off from the charity they shared with William and Kate.

The Royal Foundation will be divided between the Sussexes and Cambridges as the couples focus on their own separate charitable endeavours.

Prince William and Prince Harry first established the Royal Foundation in 2009 before Kate joined two years later shortly after their engagement was announced.

The trio would often appear together at events and the Foundation had huge successes with projects like the Invictus Games for injured veterans and the mental health Heads Together campaign.

The Royal Foundation said the decision was made following the conclusion of a review into its structure - but added both couples will continue to work together in the future.

Harry and Meg were living in close proximity to Kate and Wills within the Kensington Palace estate, but they switched to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor before baby Archie was born.

The move further increased rumours of a fallout.

Harry, 39, also hinted in his ITV documentary "Harry and Meghan, An African Journey" that he and his brother had grown apart.

It came after Prince Philip called Meghan the "D.O.W" after the Duchess of Windsor — the American divorcee who led Edward VIII to abdicate.

And he warned the late Queen to be "cautious" of Harry's then bride-to-be, a royal author claims.

Ingrid Seward revealed in new book My Mother And I that Prince Philip felt it was "uncanny...how much Meghan reminded him of the Duchess of Windsor".

In 2021, Harry and Meghan give their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey where Harry accused his dad of cutting him off financially.

Harry then jetted back to UK to join William in unveiling a statue to their mother Princess Diana in the grounds of Kensington Palace. But sources claimed William didn’t want to attend the memorial amid their ongoing rift.

In 2022, just before their grandmother the Queen died, sources claimed Kate acts as a "peacemaker" between the brothers.

Last year Harry claimed his brother "knocked him to the floor" during an argument about Meghan.

In his book Spare, Harry said William branded Meghan "rude" and "difficult" during a row.

Harry alleged William "grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and … knocked me to the floor".

He said he was left with a visible injury to his back following the argument in 2019 at Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, where he was living at the time.

In January this year, Harry flew in to be with Charles after the monarch's shock cancer diagnosis.

Harry flew back to the US the following day - without seeing Wills. 

"I think she just threw it into their faces a the end."

It comes after the former royal correspondent also suggested Prince Harry was set to be Prince William's top adviser when he becomes King - but now "that's out of the window".

He claimed the estranged brothers' fractured relationship would break Diana's heart.

"They were really, really close. And this is what makes it so sad that they're now so far apart," he said.

"When William becomes King, I always believed Harry would be one of his top advisers.

"I think that's out of the window."

FAMILY TENSIONS

It follows years of tension sparking from the Sussexes stepping down as senior royals.

The year after, Harry and Meghan sat down in an explosive interview with Oprah in 2021.

The pair sent shock waves across the world when they accused the Royal Family of "concerns and conversations" regarding "how dark" son Archie's skin would be.

In December the following year, they then released their bombshell Netflix documentary in which they launched yet more vile attacks at the Firm.

Harry next published his sensational memoir Spare in January 2023 which seemingly broke ties with his brother altogether.

Last year disgusting claims in their Oprah interview resurfaced in shamed royal author Omid Scobie’s hatchet job book Endgame, when two names were leaked.

In two passages of a translated version in the Netherlands, King Charles and Princess Kate were named as the royals involved.

OLIVE BRANCH

Fellow royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams spoke to The Sun about the Invictus games being a potential turning point in Harry and Prince William's relationship.

The expert previously hinted a reunion could be possible when the Duke visits the UK in May to mark the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games.

It would be Harry's first time in Britain since his sister-in-law, Princess Kate announced she is receiving preventative chemotherapy for cancer after abdominal surgery in January.

The royal biographer said: "We don't know but things can happen that you don't expect? And you look at the time scale between now and the Invictus games - It's still quite the time.

"It's perfectly possible Harry could come over before then to see his father, whether or to what extent he might see William and Catherine, or whatever I simply don't know.

"But Megan is very unpopular in Britain. She knows that any appearance she'd make here would make headlines, and they wouldn't necessarily be favourable,

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"We we simply don't know but the best way, obviously, of bridging this rift, if it is to be bridged, and it does make sense when you've got serious illness to consider."

This follows speculation Wills and Kate extended an olive branch to the Sussexes, inviting them to the UK with kids Archie, four, and Lilibet, two, as reported by the .

The Sussexes with Queen Elizabeth II at the Queen’s Young Leaders Awards Ceremony on June 26, 2018 at Buckingham Palace in London
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The Sussexes with Queen Elizabeth II at the Queen’s Young Leaders Awards Ceremony on June 26, 2018 at Buckingham Palace in LondonCredit: Getty
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