Meghan Markle and Prince Harry famously left their senior-level royal positions in 2020, and since then, the duo shifted their focus to becoming celebrities in the U.S.
Before King Charles ascended the throne, His Majesty hoped imposing financial sanctions would pressure the Sussexes to come home, an anonymous palace insider claimed.
“The royal household had thought the threat of exposure would force Harry and Meghan to return to the U.K., where their profile could be controlled preventing them from eclipsing the future King," the publication added.
OK! previously reported historian Dr. Ed Owens thinks Meghan and Harry's various tell-alls challenged the integrity of the monarchy.
"The story is a slightly tragic one as it has damaged this idea of a family monarchy. This idea that this is a united group who embody, if you like, the best of British family life," Owens said in an interview.
Harry's decision to immigrate to the U.S. altered Charles' plans for modernizing the monarchy alongside his children.
"Originally King Charles III's reign was going to be based around him being supported by his two trusty lieutenants — William and Harry," the royal commentator continued. "But when that went so disastrously wrong in early 2020 because of Harry and Meghan's decision to leave Britain, it really put paid to that vision of the family monarchy."
Aside from leaving England, Harry and Meghan released a Netflix docuseries and the Duke of Sussex published a scathing memoir that impacted the world's perception of his relatives.
"And then of course we've had the Sussexes airing their dirty laundry in public for the best part of three years — and again it has done much damage to that narrative of happy family life," the professional added.
"So why not, as I suggest in my book, do away with this family narrative once and for all? We don't need to have this big royal family presenting themselves as moral exemplars," he explained. "King Charles is uniquely placed because he knows first-hand that the ideal of the family rarely matches the reality of the family monarchy."
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Royal expert Tessa Dunlop pointed out that Charles' explosive divorce from Princess Diana and Harry's "Megxit" scandal are intertwined into his legacy as the Prince of Wales and the King of England.
"By 1980 the pressure on Charles was huge. Britain wanted another royal wedding. On the surface, his marriage looked like the perfect second act — another blushing bride with her sailor prince," Dunlop shared with a publication.
"But times had changed: divorce was prevalent, celebrity culture distorting, infidelity unacceptable. Charles and Diana’s giant wedding ended in giant failure," Dunlop said. "Charles is the product of his generation just as his parents were of theirs. But can our everyman king find a new brand as potent as family monarchy? Let's hope so for the sake of our divided nation."
The palace insider spoke to The Sun.
