When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle returned from their six-week retreat in Canada at the dawn of 2020, the world was unprepared for the whirlwind of events that would soon follow. On January 7, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made their first official appearance of the year at the Canadian High Commission in London. Observers noted that Prince Harry appeared distracted, a sentiment later echoed by royal author Robert Jobson. According to Jobson, Harry’s thoughts were consumed by recent discussions with his father, now-King Charles, about redefining his and Meghan’s roles within the royal family. Harry had proposed a “new semi-detached setup,” allowing the couple to earn their own income while still retaining their HRH titles—a proposal that would ultimately divide the royal household.

The next day, news emerged of Harry and Meghan’s unexpected return to Canada, following a brief visit to the UK. Rumors swirled about their reconsideration of their roles within The Firm, rumors that many found hard to believe. These speculations were soon validated when Harry and Meghan took to their @sussexroyal Instagram account to announce their decision. The couple declared their intention to step back from senior royal duties, aiming to “carve out a progressive new role” within the monarchy while sharing their time between the UK and North America. However, Jobson revealed that this announcement was made without the Queen’s consent, leaving her with the formidable task of addressing what was quickly becoming a major crisis for the monarchy.

In his book, “The Windsor Legacy,” Robert Jobson describes how Prince Harry, now in his early forties, had “presumptuously assumed” that the late Queen would endorse their plan for a part-time royal role due to their close relationship. Though Her Majesty was reportedly sympathetic to her grandson’s difficulties, she was not impressed with the Sussexes’ strategy to “effectively cash in on their royal status,” as Jobson wrote. The message from the royal hierarchy was unequivocal: a halfway role was not an option. The couple had to choose whether they were fully in or out.

On January 13, 2020, the late Monarch gathered then- Prince Charles, Prince Williamand Prince Harry to discuss how best to navigate ‘Megxit’ during peacekeeping talks that were soon dubbed the ‘Sandringham Summit’ by the media. Meghan, now 44, was pregnant with her and Prince Harry’s firstborn, Prince Archie, and did not travel to Sandringham from Canada- although she was ‘reportedly set to join the discussions via video call’. However, ‘technical issues’ prevented her from participating in the meeting that day.

Intimate details of what exactly was discussed during the 90-minute conference in the Long Library remain shrouded in secrecy to this day, but the Sandringham Summit was highly ’emotional’, Mr Jobson claimed. The late Prince Philip, once Harry’s beloved ‘mentor’, was allegedly so enraged he refused to attend altogether, while William was ‘still seething’ over his brother’s behaviour and arrived ‘composed but distant’. As senior members of the Firm gathered for these unprecedented talks at the royal family’s Norfolk estate, the world held its breath in anticipation. The Daily Mail’s renowned royal expert Richard Kay wrote at the time: ‘Not since the dark days over Diana has there been such a sense of dread and unhappiness shrouding the Royal Family.’ Described by Mr Jobson as a ‘defining moment’ for the monarchy that highlighted ‘the personal cost of stepping away from it’, the Sandringham Summit illustrated the Queen’s absolute commitment to her role as its head.

According to the author, the Queen was ‘adamant’ that the royal couple ‘must be stripped of their patronages and banned from using their HRH titles personally and commercially’. ‘The idea of the couple earning millions by cashing in on their royal titles and status was abhorrent to her,’ he wrote in his book, Catherine: The Princess of Wales. Yet her personal sadness at her grandson’s departure from the royal fold was made clear in a statement issued shortly after the high-profile meeting. ‘Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family,’ Her Majesty said. Mr Kay wrote at the time of the announcement: ‘Not since 1997 in the aftermath of the death of Diana has the Queen issued such a personal bulletin.’ ‘For Harry, it was a hard lesson,’ wrote Mr Jobson.

While the prince had hoped for an outcome that benefited him and Meghan financially, ultimately, he was ‘forced to concede far more ground than he anticipated, in exchange for his and Meghan’s “freedom”‘. Any hopes of a ‘half-in, half-out’ agreement were firmly destroyed by the Palace’s statement that the Sussexes would be stripped of their HRH titles on January 19. Harry would lose his military appointments and role as Commonwealth youth ambassador, while the pair volunteered to forgo all access to the Sovereign Grant and public cash. The £2.4million ($3.2m) of taxpayer funds used to renovate the couple’s Windsor home, Frogmore Cottage, would also be repaid by the Sussexes. Meanwhile, Meghan’s Duchess of Sussex title was now merely ‘symbolic’ and would have ‘zero constitutional importance’.