Prince Harry’s ‘ambushes’ on Royal Family ‘harmed frail Queen’s health in last year of her life’

Prince Harry ‘ambushing’ the Royal Family on an ‘almost weekly’ basis harmed the frail Queen’s health in the last year of her life, sources close to the late monarch claimed.

Public attacks on the Royal Family by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex ‘took its toll’ on the late Queen – who disliked confrontation – and impacted her wellbeing before her death in September last year, her friends reportedly said.

Queen Elizabeth II considered Harry a ‘much-loved grandson’ which made his frequent criticisms of the royals even more agonising for her to bear, they added.

The Duke of Sussex writes about his grandmother with love in his memoir Spare, which went on sale by accident nearly a week early in Spain on Thursday ahead of its January 10 release date, but those close to her say she suffered due to his fights with the Royal Family.

Queen Elizabeth II (centre) considered Harry (second-right) a ‘much-loved grandson’ which made his frequent criticisms of the royals even more agonising for her to bear, a source said

‘She never wanted to deal with confrontation, even going as far back as the start of Prince Andrew’s troubles, and this stuff was shoved in her face on an almost weekly basis,’ a friend of the Queen’s told the Telegraph.

They said that it had an ‘impact’ since the death of Prince Philip and ‘at that stage in your life and your reign, you just don’t need that on top of everything else.’

Allegations made by Harry and Meghan was detrimental to the Queen’s health, another ‘well-placed’ source told the paper they were ‘absolutely’ sure of.

The Duke of Sussex is unlikely to reconcile with his family now, after sticking ‘this enormous machete in their backs’, the first source also said. 

They added that Meghan’s desire for her and her children to be part of a family is now ‘out of the question’.

Queen Elizabeth II as she invited Liz Truss to become Prime Minister on September 6 – just two days before her death

Prince Harry received a multi-million pound advance for his memoir Spare (pictured) which went on sale by accident nearly a week early in Spain ahead of its January 10 release date

Harry arriving at Balmoral shortly after the Queen died in September last year

Prince Harry has also revealed his emotional final words to his beloved grandmother the at Balmoral just hours after she passed away, in his upcoming memoir Spare.

Harry scrambled to Scotland to see the Queen on September 8 last year after Buckingham Palace announced that she was gravely ill. However, he failed to reach the estate before she passed away aged 96.

He writes: ‘I advanced with uncertainty and saw her. I stayed still, watching her carefully for a good while.

‘I whispered that I hoped she was happy and that she was with Grandfather now. I said that I admired her for having carried out her duties until the end. The [Platinum] Jubilee, the welcoming of the new Prime Minister’.

But the Prince reportedly ‘wanted to cancel the publication’ of his bombshell memoir after he visited the UK for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations last year.

Prince Harry ‘wanted to cancel the publication’ of his bombshell memoir Spare after he visited the UK for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations last year. Pictured: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the St Paul’s Cathedral during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations on June 3 last year

The Duke of Sussex’s second thoughts may have come after he was told by the Royal Family there would be ‘no way back’ if it was published while the Queen was still alive, sources at the book’s publisher speculated.

After his visit to Britain in June last year with his wife Meghan, the team at Penguin Random House working on Spare were reportedly told the Prince had ‘pulled it’ and that ‘he doesn’t want to do it’.

Despite the book being ‘ready to go’ the duke had ‘second thoughts’ after seeing his grandmother, a US publishing source told The Times.