A friend of the Queen confirmed the emotional toll: “You have to remember, the Queen had bone cancer. She was dying. And then she was completely let down by her grandson. It was utterly devastating.”

Those in William and Kate’s circle reportedly place the blame squarely on Meghan. One friend told Sykes, “The family blame Meghan 100 percent. [Harry] ain’t the sharpest tool in the box… They think she saw an opportunity to become the most famous woman in the world, and when royal life didn’t live up to that, she decided to milk it.”

Royal writer Richard Kay also shared a telling story from the pandemic: When Harry called the palace switchboard to speak with the Queen, the operator recalled, “When I announced to the Queen that Harry was her caller, there was just a stony silence… it was so uncomfortable.”

Even before their wedding, some close to the Queen were voicing concern. Lady Elizabeth Anson, a cousin and close confidante of Her Majesty, exchanged emails with biographer Sally Bedell Smith in 2018. She wrote that Harry had already “really upset” the Queen and had been “rude to her for ten minutes” during one tea visit.

Two weeks before the royal wedding, Lady Elizabeth noted the Queen was “very worried.”

She wrote, “Harry is besotted and weak about women. We hope but don’t quite think she is in love. We think [Meghan] engineered it all.”

She also quoted “The Number One Lady” — widely believed to be the Queen herself — as saying “the jury is out on whether she likes Meghan.”

Less than two years later, the Sussexes moved to California, stepping back from royal life. And in 2022, Queen Elizabeth died at Balmoral, reportedly from a rare form of bone cancer. Her final public appearance came just two days before her death, meeting with new Prime Minister Liz Truss—still composed, still inscrutable, giving nothing away.