The royal Christmas message has long been a beloved tradition, marking a moment of connection and reflection for countless people in Britain and across the globe. This tradition began in 1932 with King George V’s inaugural radio address, and since then, each monarch has used the opportunity to offer gratitude and insight into the year’s events. In 2019, while Queen Elizabeth II’s festive message didn’t explicitly address the growing family tensions, royal observers noted a telling omission that hinted at the significant changes looming for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

In a notable departure from the previous year, Queen Elizabeth chose not to include a photograph of Prince Harry, Meghan, and their young son Archie on her desk during her televised address. Many interpreted this as a signal of their sidelining within the royal family. Royal author Tina Brown, in her book “Palace Papers,” described Prince William’s reaction, predicting that Harry, who was in Canada at the time, would be deeply upset. “William was said to have been appalled when he saw the Sussexes had been edited out,” Brown wrote, anticipating Harry’s response as a “Category 5 tantrum.”

Following their 2018 wedding, Prince Harry and Meghan had been striving to redefine their royal roles, seeking a “half-in, half-out” arrangement as Meghan aimed to modernize the monarchy. In October 2019, the couple announced they would be taking an extended break from official duties for some much-needed family time. Kensington Palace later confirmed that Harry and Meghan were spending the holiday season in Canada, choosing to forgo the traditional royal family gathering at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk. Instead, they celebrated Christmas with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, in Vancouver.

However, their ‘sabbatical’ soon turned into a ‘working vacation’ as the Sussexes allegedly used their time away from the spotlight to ‘refine’ their exit plan, Ms Brown wrote in her bestseller. It was during their time at Mille Fleurs, a $14million waterfront mansion on Vancouver Island, that Harry and Meghan laid the foundation for what would become known as ‘Megxit’. The Duchess reportedly asked her former publicist Keleigh Thomas to ‘map out the new Sussex Royal foundation’ and asked the designer of her now-defunct lifestyle blog The Tig to ‘secretly create the digital expression’ of their future identity as part-time royals.

While Her Majesty had yet to allow the couple to use Sussex Royal, which outlined the work streams of Harry and Meghan, they applied for trademarks for several products, including sportswear, pens, and ’emotional support services’, according to royal expert Tom Bower. Yet, while rumours slowly began to circulate of a growing rift between the Sussexes and the remainder of the Firm, few knew of Meghan and Harry’s long-term plans at the time. Royal fans were perhaps also slightly preoccupied by the scandal unfolding over Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s friendship with financier Jeffrey Epstein amid widespread scrutiny over his car crash Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis. By the time Christmas morning dawned, the cracks within the royal family were beginning to show and the monarch knew she had to ‘take control’, wrote Mr Bower.

‘The irritants, especially Andrew and Harry, would be removed earlier than planned.’ While Elizabeth made no mention either of her son or grandson when she addressed the nation, royal watchers spotted an important detail that seemingly confirmed Harry and Meghan’s status in the royal family had been downgraded. ‘The subtext was all in the flotilla of carefully arranged family photographs positioned on her writing desk,’ wrote Ms Brown. Eagle-eyed royal watchers noticed that, while a photo of the Duke and Duchess taken on their wedding day had been displayed during the Queen’s 2018 address, they were conspicuously absent when she faced the camera the following year. ‘The Sussexes had evaporated, their image excised as skillfully as Stalin would have done to an apparatchik out of favour,’ Ms Brown continued.

This was no accident as the royal author explained each detail of the 3pm Christmas broadcast was meticulously planned – and the curation of family photographs was no exception. It seems the rearrangement of the family photographs that adorned her desk for the Christmas broadcast was her way of communicating her displeasure with her grandson’s behaviour. Quoting royal author Christopher Anderson, Ms Brown revealed that the Queen examined the photos displayed and said all were fine to remain in the frame ‘except one’. ‘Her Majesty pointed at a winsome portrait of Harry, Meghan, and baby Archie. ‘”That one, said the Queen. I suppose we don’t need that one.”‘

The ex-Vanity Fair editor added that William ‘was said to have been appalled’ when he noticed the missing photo. ‘He knew his brother well enough to predict a Category 5 storm brewing.’ On January 7, 2020, the Sussexes announced their decision to step down as senior royals in a statement posted on Instagram. ‘After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution,’ the couple posted to their Instagram page. ‘We intend to step back as “senior” members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.’

They went on to declare their plans to divide their time between the UK and North America, and to ‘focus on the next chapter’, carving out a new progressive role for themselves. Their bold move forced the Queen to summon Harry and her heirs, Charles and William, for a round table discussion to discuss the future of the monarchy on January 13. As the eyes of the world turned on the unprecedented event, it was grandly dubbed ‘The Sandringham Summit’ by the press, as a slew of media vans and satellite dishes descended on the area to cover the monumental moment. Shortly after, the Queen issued an unprecedented statement about the ‘constructive discussions’ at Sandringham and said the Firm was ‘entirely supportive of a Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family’.

Their hopes of a ‘half-in, half-out’ role were dashed in a subsequent statement from Buckingham Palace that confirmed the Sussexes will ‘step back from Royal duties’ and no longer ‘formally represent The Queen’. While retaining their private patronages, the Sussexes ‘will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the Royal Family’, the statement read. The 2019 speech was one of the most high-profile in years, as alongside Prince Harry’s public dissatisfaction with the Royal Family, The Firm was still reeling from Andrew’s public shaming after his bombshell interview about Jeffrey Epstein. Alongside Harry, the disgraced Andrew also never made the cut in that year’s photo display.