Meghan and Harry prepared to walk away from royal life because they feel they're being 'driven out', says friend
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced that they would be stepping down from their royal duties and walking away because they feel they are being "driven out", claims a friend.
Speaking on an evening broadcast in the UK, Tom Bradby, who had toured southern Africa with the Sussexes for their emotional ITV documentary 'Harry & Meghan: An African Journey,' said the "honest truth" behind their decision was "bad personal splits" within the royal family.
Bradby said one of the major reasons why there was a split within the family was because of their public battle with the country's media and tabloids.
"In their eyes, they're on a moral mission to take on the media or the tabloid media and the excesses of it," he explained. "Their view is, 'If we don’t stand up to it, who’s going to? We have to take a lead on this'."
"They think their family kowtows to the media and plays the game — the 'game that killed my mother' as Harry would put it. So a bit of it is about that. The rest of the family thinks this is mad — you can win a battle against the media but not the war."
"There've been a lot of fallouts," Bradby continued. "A lot of harsh things were said around the time of the wedding. And it's gone a bit too far. And certainly, the rest of the family find Harry and Meghan very difficult and, from Harry and Meghan's point of view, they're just being driven out as they see it. And it's sad."
He added that there were going to be "many complications, so many controversies" because of their decision and that "there needs to be a peace deal really soon" because there was "so much anger" and everything had become "so toxic."
Harry and Meghan had announced on January 8 that they have decided to take a step back as "senior members" of the royal family "after many months of reflection and internal discussions" so they could "carve out a progressive new role within this institution."
"My impression is they’re pretty philosophical about it," said Bradby about their split. "[It's] 'We're making a break for independence and freedom here. You wanted a slimmed-down monarchy. There’s no place for us in it. We need to learn to live on our own. We want to get on and do that'."
He said Harry and Meghan had thrown the ball in the Queen's court regarding their titles, royal protection, and all the royal perks but that they had made it clear that they still wanted to support the monarchy and be involved in the commonwealth.