A Timeline of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Drama With the Royal Family: Where They Stand Now

January 2017

Reports began surfacing that the royal brothers were fighting after William suggested he and Meghan were moving too fast. Royal reporters Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand claimed in their book, Finding Freedom, that Harry was “pissed off” at his older brother, who thought he was “blindsided by lust.”

“Some felt it was an overreaction,” the book reads. “But then, this sums them up as people — William, the calm and rational one, and Harry, who can’t help but take things far too personally.”

May 2018

Stories began circulating right before Meghan and Harry’s wedding that the bride made Kate Middleton “cry” during a fitting for Princess Charlotte’s flower girl dress.

The Los Angeles native later claimed during her CBS interview that the situation actually happened the other way around.

“That was a turning point. … The narrative with Kate, it didn’t happen,” Meghan said. “A few days before the wedding she was upset about flower girl dresses, and it made me cry. It really hurt my feelings. … She was upset about something, but she owned it and she apologized. And she brought me flowers and a note, apologizing. And she did what I would do if I knew that I hurt someone, right, to just take accountability for it.”

March 2019

Harry and Meghan split their royal household from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The news raised some eyebrows and fueled speculation that Harry and William were not getting along. 

June 2019

Meghan joined The Royal Foundation, a charity Harry and William started in 2009 and Kate later joined, as the fourth patron shortly after her marriage in May 2018. By June 2019, Harry and Meghan announced they were leaving to set up their own foundation. 
Harry has since revealed in his memoir, Spare, that things were very tense at this point between him and William, claiming that his brother physically assaulted him.

“He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor,” he wrote about an altercation they had when William called Meghan “abrasive” and “rude”

October 2019

During an interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby, Harry and Meghan hinted at their unhappiness. 

“I have said for a long time to H, that’s what I call [Harry], ‘It’s not enough to just survive something. That’s not the point of life. You have to thrive. You have got to feel happy,’” the former Suits actress said, admitting she was “not OK.”
“I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a ‘stiff upper lip.’ I really tried, but I think that what that does internally is probably really damaging,” she added. 

January 2020

Harry and Meghan released a statement about stepped back as senior royals. “We have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution,” their joint statement read. “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. It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.”

“We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages,” their statement continued. “This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.”

January 2020

Queen Elizabeth and Buckingham Palace posted their own statement on January 18, revealing the couple would lose their HRH royal titles and no longer receive public funding for their royal duties. Despite reports claiming the matriarch was not happy about their announcement, she showed public support for their decision.

“Following many months of conversations and more recent discussions, I am pleased that together we have found a constructive and supportive way forward for my grandson and his family,” the monarch’s statement began. “Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much-loved members of the family. I recognize the challenges they have experienced as a result of intense scrutiny over the last two years and support their wish for a more independent life.”
“I want to thank them for all their dedicated work across this country, the Commonwealth and beyond, and am particularly proud of how Meghan has so quickly become one of the family,” she concluded. “It is my whole family’s hope that today’s agreement allows them to start building a happy and peaceful new life.”

March 2020

Things were still extremely tense between William and Harry. A source told Us Weekly the brothers had only spoken “a couple times” about “business matters” in recent months. 

During Harry and Meghan’s final engagement as working senior royals, William and Kate appeared to snub them when they arrived.

November 2020

Harry “was saddened and disappointed by the decision” by the firm not to have his wreath laid during Remembrance Day 2021, a close source revealed in the book Finding Freedom, which was released in August 2021. “Ten years of service and a lifetime commitment to the military community and this is how it’s been acknowledged by his family.”

February 2021

One year after stepping back, Harry and Meghan released a statement revealing their royal exit was permanent.

“Following conversations with the duke, the queen has written confirming that in stepping away from the work of the royal family it is not possible to continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service,” the palace said in a statement at the time. “The honorary military appointments and royal patronages held by the duke and duchess will therefore be returned to Her Majesty before being redistributed among working members of the royal family. While we are all saddened by their decision, the duke and duchess remain much-loved members of the family.”

However, the former senior royals fired back with their own statement.  “As evidenced by their work over the past year, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex remain committed to their duty and service to the U.K. and around the world and have offered their continued support to the organizations they have represented regardless of official role,” they wrote. “We can all live a life of service. Service is universal.”

March 2021

The couple did not hold back during their CBS interview. “I don’t know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent if there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us,” Meghan said. “And if that comes with risk of losing things, there is a lot that has been lost already.”

Harry touched on his strained relationship with Charles and William but seemed to still have a positive relationship with Elizabeth. For Meghan, the interview was “cathartic,” a friend described the experience in Finding Freedom, before adding, “All the things she had kept to herself or been too afraid to say [as a working member of the royal family] she felt safe to finally share. It was liberating.”

Before eventually releasing a statement in response to the interview, the “Queen, said a senior Palace aide, wanted to provide a measured, considered statement after people in the UK and notably her family had seen it,” authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand wrote in the book.

March 2021

“Prince William, said sources, was understood to be ‘furious’ that private family matters were being discussed in the public domain but is unlikely to ever comment on the claims again,” a passage from Finding Freedom reads. “A source close to the Sussexes shared that ‘while emotions are still raw and it is still difficult, it will force people to talk in order for the healing to begin. The immediate reaction was not positive. It will take time to get past the hurt.”

March 2021

Harry and Meghan noted they checked in during Philip, who died on April 9, 2021, during a health scare. 


“This morning, I woke up earlier than H., and saw a note from someone on our team in the U.K. saying that the Duke of Edinburgh had gone to the hospital,” Meghan said during the special. “I just picked up the phone and I called the Queen just to check in. I just called, that’s what we do.” 


“So, there’s the family, and then there’s the people that are running the institution. Those are two separate things,” she added. “It’s important to be able to compartmentalize that because the queen, for example, has always been wonderful to me.”

April 2021

Harry traveled to the U.K. for his grandfather’s funeral, while Meghan stayed back in the states, but he was not seen socializing much with William. The royal brothers did not walk next to each other behind Philip’s coffin, instead, Harry walked behind William and Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips.

“These are practical changes rather than sending a signal. This is a funeral, and we are not going to be drawn into perceptions of drama,” the Palace told Us Weekly in a statement about the decision. “The arrangements have been agreed and represent Her Majesty’s wishes as well as the personal wishes of The Duke.”

The visit had “broken the ice” in terms of Harry and the rest of the royal family, a friend of Harry’s claimed in Finding Freedom. The book also claimed that Harry and William had a couple conversations during the eight-day trip, leading to further communications and that it was “very special” for Harry to see the Queen.

May 2021

Prince Charles was reportedly having a harder time moving on from Harry and Meghan’s tell-all interview than Prince William and Queen Elizabeth, a source told Us Weekly.

“With the way things are going, Charles may never forgive Harry, which hasn’t gone down well with Elizabeth,” the insider told the outlet. “She feels that he’s putting his pride before the best interest of the monarchy. She has enough on her plate dealing with the loss of her husband. It’s drama she can do without.”

May 2021

Despite the brothers reuniting during Philip’s funeral, they were “not talking at the moment,” royal expert Nick Bullen told Us Weekly in May.

June 2021

Meghan and Harry welcomed their daughter,  Lilibet ‘Lili’ Mountbatten-Windsor, on June 4, and a source exclusively told In Touch that Queen Elizabeth is “overjoyed” with the arrival.

“The queen was one of the first people Harry and Meghan told about the birth and they’ve sent her photos,” the source explained. “She has put the drama (from the interviews) aside.”

June 2021

While Meghan and Harry are in baby bliss with their two children, things were still frosty between them and the royal family. Princess Diana’s friend Stewart Pearce gave Us Weekly insight into the dynamics within the famous family.

“That’s what Charles does. … He can’t deal with it because of his sensitivity, so he hides,” he said on June 16. “And what Harry’s trying to do is to heal that. Not out of umbrage, not out of anger or revenge or criticism or accusation. … I felt that he was just somebody saying, ‘This is the way that it is, and this is why we want to make change.’”

August 2021

“As difficult as recent years have been, sources close to the Sussexes say that neither Harry nor Meghan have any regrets about the decisions they have made,” a passage from Finding Freedom claimed. A rep for Harry and Meghan did not immediately respond to In Touch‘s request for comment regarding the book’s claims, and Kensington Palace had no comment when reached by In Touch.

September 2021

The queen seemingly brushed aside any tensions between Harry and the family by wishing him a “happy birthday” over a Zoom call and expressing how “proud” she was of him and Meghan for appearing on the cover of Time magazine, a source told In Touch in September 2021.

“She got to see Lilibet and Archie on the call too, which she was super happy about,” the insider added.

February 2022

Harry expressed his concerns over the safety of his children if he were to bring them to the U.K. In February 2022. The Duke of Sussex’s legal team addressed the grievances on his behalf to the High Court in London.

“This claim is about the fact that the claimant does not feel safe when he is in the U.K. given the security arrangements that were applied to him in June 2021 and will continue to be applied to him if he decides to come back,” Harry’s attorney, Shaheed Fatima, said during the hearing. “It should go without saying that he wants to come back: to see family and friends and to continue to support the charities that are so close to his heart. Most of all, this is, and always will be, his home.”

April 2022

Meghan publicly discussed how she broke royal family photo protocol in an April 2022 interview with The Cut by releasing pictures of her son, Archie, via Instagram.

“There’s literally a structure by which if you want to release photos of your child, as a member of the family, you first have to give them to the Royal Rota [the U.K. media],” the Duchess of Sussex said. “Why would I give the very people that are calling my children the “N” word a photo of my child before I can share it with the people that love my child? You tell me how that makes sense and then I’ll play that game.”

June 2022

An insider told Us Weekly in June 2022 that William was “not been in a good place” with his younger brother.

“[William] doesn’t know who [Harry] is anymore and the trust between them is strained,” the source told the outlet. “They’ll never recover from the damage that has been done.”

September 2022

After Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, a source exclusively told In Touch how her passing was affecting Harry’s relationship with his family.

“There’s strife between Harry and the royal family for announcing the queen’s passing before he arrived at Balmoral,” the insider said. “Emotions are running high right now and Harry was hoping his family would wait.”

September 2022

Following the queen’s death, Meghan opted to not go with Harry to the castle. A separate source exclusively explained to In Touch that the Suits alum “felt it would be wrong to go to Balmoral given her history with the royal family.”

“It was direct family only, and she is unwelcome there,” the insider added.

November 2022

Royal watchers were met with unexpected news when Prince William’s godmother, Lady Susan Hussey, announced her departure from her “honorary role” within the firm following racist remarks made toward palace guest Ngozi Fulani.

Fulani, a charity founder, claimed that Hussey asked her multiple times where she “really came from,” and made insensitive comments about her hair. While a spokesperson for William stated after Hussey’s resignation that “racism has no place in our society,” social media users were quick to connect Fulani’s experience with Meghan Markle’s admissions about the royal family over the years. 

“What happened to Ngozi Fulani was witnessed by others so we know the details. Now imagine this happening constantly to Meghan Markle, in private, relentlessly being questioned and comments made to her face,” one Twitter user estimated. “Makes you think.” 

December 2022

The couple’s Netflix documentary, Harry & Meghan, gave further explanation to their claims about the royal family, their exit and more.

“There was an opportunity, many opportunities, for my family to show some public support,” Harry said, with Meghan adding, “There’s a reason that these tabloids have holiday parties at the palace … There is a construct that’s at play there. Because from the beginning of our relationship, they were so attacking and inciting so much racism … it wasn’t just catty gossip. It was bringing out a part of people that was racist in how it was charged. And that changed the threat. That changed the level of death threats. That changed everything.”

January 2023

Harry did not hold back on any dirty details in his memoir, Spare, even calling his brother his “archnemesis” at one point

“There has always been this competition between us, weirdly,” he wrote. “I think it really plays into or is always played by the heir [and] spare [labels].”

In the book, Harry also alleged that William attacked him in 2019 while they were arguing about Meghan.

“He set down the water, called me another name, then came at me. It all happened so fast. So very fast. He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace and he knocked me to the floor,” the book reads. “I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out.”

April 2023

A new book, Our King, by royal correspondent Robert Jobson shed new light on the famed Windsor walkabout, claiming that the two warring couples simply gave off the “illusion” of unity on the day in question.

“Catherine later admitted to a senior royal that, such was the ill feeling between the two couples, the joint walkabout was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do,” Jobson detailed, per excerpts published by the Daily Mail.

April 2023

After weeks of speculation, it was confirmed by Buckingham Palace on April 12 that Harry will be attending his father’s coronation on May 6, but Meghan will not be joining him. Instead, she will be in the United States, celebrating her son Archie’s fourth birthday.

“Buckingham Palace is pleased to confirm that The Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on May 6th,” a statement read. “The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.”

April 2023

Despite Meghan Markle not attending the coronation, she and Prince Harry were included in a family photo from happier times in King Charles III’s official coronation souvenir program.

The portrait was taken by Chris Jackson in 2018 to mark Charles’ 70th birthday and featured his direct family. Sons Harry and Prince William stood behind their dad with their wives alongside them as Charles and Camilla sat on a bench with his grandchildren, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Kate proudly held onto Prince Louis, who was still a baby at the time. Harry and Meghan’s children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet had not yet been born.