Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped down as working royals in 2020, a decision which rocked the Firm and prompted a heartbreaking response from the late Queen.

Queen Elizabeth was reportedly left “very hurt” and “exhausted” by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s decision to quit as working members of the Royal Family, it’s been claimed.

Her feelings were summed up with a simple yet devastating eight-word response as she told a royal insider: “I don’t want to think about it anymore.”

In the forthcoming book ‘The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown’, a source close to the Firm gave an insight into the late Queen’s “turmoil” over events at the time.

An extract of the book was published in Vanity Fair, in which the insider said: ” She was very hurt and told me, ‘I don’t know, I don’t care, and I don’t want to think about it anymore’.”

The book was written by royal expert and correspondent Katie Nicholl, who also claimed that the late Queen was upset that she did not get to spend more time with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Ms Nicholl wrote of Her Late Majesty’s disappointment that Harry and Meghan did not bring their children to Balmoral in August for a sleepover.