A striking new assessment of the Sussexes’ royal exit has turned the spotlight firmly back onto Prince Harry’s role in the fallout.
Meghan Markle defended over Megxit as Prince Harry handed brutal blame (Image: Getty)
Meghan Markle should not shoulder the blame alone for the turmoil that followed her and Prince Harry’s dramatic departure from royal life, according to a striking new assessment of Megxit. More than six years after the Sussexes walked away as senior working royals, attention has now turned firmly towards Harry’s own role in a decision that fundamentally changed his relationship with the monarchy.
Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine has argued that Meghan Markle did not deliberately set out to cause disruption and insisted Harry was just as responsible for what followed. She said: “For all her mistakes, I don’t think Meghan deliberately set out to be a disruptor.”
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The columnist added: “And I don’t think it’s fair to hold her solely responsible for the shambles that followed. It’s easy to always blame the woman, but the truth is [Prince] Harry was as much a part of Megxit as she was.”
Her remarks revisit one of the most fiercely debated questions surrounding the Sussexes’ royal departure: how much responsibility should fall on Meghan, 45, and how much belonged to the Prince?
The couple announced in January 2020 that they intended to step back as senior members of the Royal Family before ultimately establishing a new life in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. What followed transformed Harry’s relationship with his family.
The Sussexes gave their explosive interview to Oprah Winfrey in 2021, before their six-part Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan was released in December 2022.
Harry then published his memoir Spare in January 2023, making a series of deeply personal revelations about royal life and his relationships with members of his family.
Meghan and Harry have since forged a new life in California for themselves (Image: Getty)
But the consequences of the couple’s departure became particularly apparent in 2024, when the Royal Family faced an extraordinary series of challenges.
Buckingham Palace announced in February that King Charles had been diagnosed with cancer and would temporarily step back from public-facing duties while receiving treatment. Despite this, Harry travelled to Britain shortly afterwards and met his father following the announcement.
Just weeks later, Princess Catherine, 44, revealed that cancer had also been discovered following her abdominal surgery and that she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy. The simultaneous absence of the King and Catherine left an already slimmed-down group of working royals under increased pressure.
Meghan managed to embrace royal life and tradition for just two years (Image: Getty)
Harry’s cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie have also maintained their family relationships while the fallout from his departure has continued. Eugenie, in particular, remained publicly close to Harry after he left Britain.
She travelled to California in 2022 and was photographed alongside her cousin at the Super Bowl in Los Angeles, becoming the first member of the Royal Family reported to have visited Harry and Meghan in California following their move to the US.
Princess Eugenie, 36, subsequently appeared in the Sussexes’ Netflix documentary, another public indication that their relationship had survived the wider royal rift.
At the same time, both York sisters continued appearing at major royal and family occasions in Britain, navigating relationships on both sides of one of the monarchy’s most public family divisions.
The Duke and Duchess announced their engagement back in November 2017 (Image: Getty)
The backdrop became still more complicated as controversy continued to surround their father, Andrew Moutbatten-Windsor whose association with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had already resulted in his withdrawal from public duties years earlier.
Against that turbulent history, Vine’s intervention shifts the focus back to Harry’s own role in the events of 2020.
Meghan has frequently been portrayed as the driving force behind the Sussexes’ decision to leave Britain, but Harry has repeatedly spo