Meghan and Harry

Meghan and Harry have lived in the US since 2020 (Image: GETTY)

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were reportedly left “furious” by the late Queen Elizabeth II following her third-to-last annual Christmas speech. During her festive address in 2019, the late Queen was seen surrounded by a number of family photographs – with one of the Sussexes and their son evidently missing.

The apparent “snub” was reportedly the “final straw” for Meghan and Harry, who, just weeks later, made the decision to step down as senior working royals. The couple, who now live in the US, were allegedly “tipped over the edge” after being snubbed from the array of family portraits.

In their 2020 book, Finding Freedom, authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand claimed that Meghan and Harry believed the Royal Family was “conspiring against them” with the move.

 

The late Queen

The late Queen was surrounded by family pictures during her Christmas speech in 2019 (Image: GETTY)

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The book claimed that Meghan and Harry had felt that they had “been sidelined by the institution and were not a fundamental part of its future”.

Scobie and Durand wrote: “One didn’t have to look further than the family photos displayed during the Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day.

“In the Green Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace, where the Queen delivered her address, viewers glimpsed photos of the [Waleses] and their children, Charles and Camilla, Prince Philip, and a black-and-white image of George VI. Noticeably absent was a photo of Harry, Meghan, and their new baby, Archie.”

Meghan and Harry pictured with their children

Meghan and Harry pictured with their son Archie and daughter Lilibet earlier this year (Image: Instagram/meghan)

Although they had spent the festive period at the Sandringham estate in 2017 and 2018, Meghan and Harry spent Archie’s first Christmas in 2019 in Canada with her mum, Doria Ragland.

It marked the second time that Harry had spent Christmas away from his royal relatives. The first was in 2012 as he was on a tour of Afghanistan while being in the Army.

Meghan and Harry have not spent Christmas with the royals since 2018. The couple are gearing up to spend their sixth consecutive one in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, now aged six and four.