A royal author has claimed Prince Harry could have helped his wife, Meghan Markle, stay the course within the Royal Family and adapt to palace life, before their decision to quit royal duties in 2020. The book titled ‘The Palace Papers’ by royal author, Tina Brown, states Prince Harry simply “didn’t want” to stay.

Writing how part of Prince Harry could have been looking for a way out, Ms Brown writes: “Their new complicity required Meghan to fight all the norms he had kicked against for so long. She was now his comrade in arms.” The royal author goes as far as to claim that one aide called their confrontational stance as a mutual “addiction to drama”.

The royal author believes the drama had started before Meghan walked down the aisle in 2018, as her half-siblings, Samantha Markle and Thomas Markle junior, had begun criticising Meghan publicly.

Ms Brown said: “Samantha had called Meghan ‘narcissistic and selfish’ as early as November 2016, before Meghan and Harry were engaged, but she was stirred again by Harry’s insensitive remark on BBC Radio 4’s Today show about the royals being “the family, I suppose, that [Meghan’s] never had.

“This seems rich, given what Harry has since told the world about his miseries as a misfit in the royal cage… But in a contest of dysfunctional families the Markles versus the Windsors is probably a toss-up.”

Lady Anne Glennconner told Brown: “We all have black sheep in our families, don’t we? But you know you have to somehow round them up and get them onside and bring them all in and stick them somewhere.”

After marriage and during their royal tour of Australia in the autumn of 2018, the couple were praised for a successful trip, but behind the scenes the Sussexes’ relationship with their royal aides was not so rosy, as depicted in another royal book.

In the book titled Revenge by Tom Bower, he claimed that in contrast to “glowing photos” of Harry and Meghan being recorded daily, the mood in Sussex headquarters was “miserable”. In one dramatic outburst, Bower claimed that Meghan “allegedly threw a cup of tea into the air”.

Bower wrote, “Every night, he [Prince Harry] trawled social media, searching for snide comments on the internet. Every morning he and Meghan turned on their phones to surf the internet. Thin-skinned, they were inflamed by the slightest criticism”.

After Harry and Meghan stepped down as working royals in 2020, and re-located to America, Harry and Meghan’s allegations that were made against the Royal Family in a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey divided the family further.

While the allegations were shocking it was the Queen’s calm and measured response that was widely praised. A statement was released by Buckingham Palace the next evening, which read: ‘The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan. The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”