Prince Harry on claims a Palace office 'leaked' key Sussex news

Buckingham Palace has not responded to the allegations

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend the "Our Planet" global premiere at Natural History Museum on April 04, 2019 in London, England.
(Image credit: Photo by Samir Hussein / Getty)

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle spent some time on Vancouver Island in Canada ahead of their official royal exit in early 2020.

Speaking to then-Prince Charles from there, Harry suggested that he and Meghan were thinking of moving to Canada, he revealed on Harry & Meghan Volume II.

"By the time I was speaking to my father from Canada, the family and their people knew that we were trying to find a different way of working for a minimum of two years. Minimum," he explained.

"'OK, Canada,' I was speaking to my father. 'This is the plan.' 

"And he says, 'Can you put it in writing?' And I said, 'I'd rather not, because of what happened last time.'"

The last time in question was a preliminary plan the Sussexes had to move to New Zealand and then South Africa, which was then leaked to The Times and subsequently cancelled.

"He says, 'I can't do anything unless you put it in writing,' so I put it in writing," Harry added.

"Sent him emails on the 1st and the 2nd and 3rd of January. And in one of those, I'd mentioned in one of those, if this wasn't going to work out, then we would be willing to relinquish our Sussex titles if need be. So that was the plan."

Later on, Harry said: "We found out that this story [about them moving to Canada] was coming out — somehow the tabloids knew about this proposal."

Meghan chimed in: "His dad said, 'Put it in writing.' And he did and five days later it was on the front page of the newspaper."

Significantly, Harry made the following allegations: "It became clear that the institution leaked the fact that we were going to move back to Canada and the key piece of that story that made me aware that the contents of the letter between me and my father had been leaked was that we were willing to relinquish our Sussex titles. That was the giveaway. I was like, 'Wow, like our story, our life literally got taken from underneath us.'"

At time of writing, Buckingham Palace has not responded to these allegations.

In fact, according to royal reporter Omid Scobie, the Palace won't be responding to the docu-series at all.

Omid tweeted: "As was the case last week, both Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace say they will not be commenting on today’s final episodes of Netflix’s Harry & Meghan."

He continued: "Both households clearly keen to keep focus on this afternoon’s #TogetherAtChristmas at Westminster Abbey (where Charles and Camilla will join William and Kate). Before the service, the King and Queen Consort will visit a London community kitchen supporting low income families."

The British Royal Family Attend The 'Together at Christmas' Carol Service

(Image credit: Photo by Chris Jackson / Getty)
Iris Goldsztajn
Iris Goldsztajn is a celebrity and royal news writer for Marie Claire. As a London-based freelance journalist, she writes about wellness, relationships, pop culture, beauty and more for the likes of InStyle, Women's Health, Bustle, Stylist and Red. Aside from her quasi-personal investment in celebs' comings and goings, Iris is especially interested in debunking diet culture and destigmatising mental health struggles. Previously, she was the associate editor for Her Campus, where she oversaw the style and beauty news sections, as well as producing gift guides, personal essays and celebrity interviews. There, she worked remotely from Los Angeles, after returning from a three-month stint as an editorial intern for Cosmopolitan.com in New York. As an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles, she interned at goop and C California Style and served as Her Campus' national style and LGBTQ+ editor. Iris was born and raised in France by a French father and an English mother. Her Spotify Wrapped is riddled with country music and One Direction, and she can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.