A startling revelation from a new royal biography claims the late Queen Elizabeth II took extraordinary measures to protect Prince Harry from a furious confrontation with his brother, Prince William, in the tumultuous aftermath of the Megxit crisis.
According to extracts from Robert Hardman's forthcoming book, Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, the monarch issued a specific directive to her senior aides. Her command was clear: Prince William was to be prevented from being in the same room as his younger brother during a critical meeting at Sandringham in January 2020.
The Sandringham Summit: A Family at Breaking Point
The now-infamous Sandringham summit was convened in a desperate attempt to find a workable solution after Harry and Meghan blindsided the family with their announcement that they intended to step back as senior royals. The atmosphere was described as highly charged and emotionally fraught.
Hardman's sources indicate that Prince William was incandescent with rage over the perceived betrayal and the public damage inflicted on the institution. Fearing that William's anger would boil over into a direct and damaging confrontation, the Queen made the calculated decision to keep the brothers apart to avoid an irreparable public rift.
A Grandmother's Protective Instinct
This intervention is painted not just as a cold strategic move by a monarch, but as the act of a concerned grandmother. The Queen was reportedly acutely aware of Harry's vulnerable state and sought to shield him from what could have been an unbearably hostile encounter.
"The Queen was being protective of Harry," a source is quoted as saying, highlighting her personal concern amidst the institutional chaos. This humanises the late sovereign, showing her attempting to navigate the nearly impossible balance between her duty to the Crown and her love for her warring grandsons.
The Lasting Impact of a Royal Decree
The Queen's ban meant that negotiations were ultimately conducted through aides and lawyers, with the brothers kept separate. This decision arguably prevented an even more spectacular and public fallout but also formalised the deep communication breakdown that persists between William and Harry to this day.
The revelation provides a poignant and previously unknown glimpse into the Queen's final years, depicting a weary matriarch personally managing the greatest internal crisis of her reign in a bid to protect her family and the monarchy itself.
