Prince Harry 'Incensed' After Being Denied Meeting With Queen Elizabeth Before Royal Exit

Prince Harry was reportedly "incensed" after being denied a meeting with Queen Elizabeth to discuss his and Meghan Markle's decision to step down as senior royals.

In her book "Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown," author Valentine Low revealed that the Duke of Sussex had sought to have a private meeting with the late monarch before leaving Canada, where he and Meghan had been staying before their eventual release from their royal duties.

The book reveals that Prince Harry initially emailed his father, then-Prince Charles, to tell him that their current setup was "not working for them" and it would be best for them to leave the U.K. and reside in North America. However, things went down "incredibly badly" as courtiers allegedly constantly got in the way of his requests for meetings.

"They were told that the first date that the family would be available was Jan. 29. It is not clear if this inflexibility was on the part of Charles, who was due to be in Davos, or that this was the response of his long-time private secretary Clive Alderton, pulling the strings," wrote Low.

"From the Sussex point of view, this went down incredibly badly. It fed into the narrative that they were not being taken seriously by the palace machinery, or by the rest of the family," he said.

The Duke of Sussex reportedly tried to expedite matters by requesting a private meeting with his grandmother before they were scheduled to leave for Canada. On the day of the meeting, however, he was told that the Queen had been "confused about her diary" and would no longer be there.

"Harry was incensed because it was not true. The courtiers had got in the way, it seemed because they saw the meeting with the Queen as an attempt to pick the Queen off before Harry started talks with the rest of the family," Low wrote.

The author also said Prince Harry and Meghan only wanted a setup that would allow them to live part of the year abroad and carry out their royal duties at home but they ended up losing all their royal duties and patronages, Harry's military affiliations, as well as their income.

Prince Harry and Meghan announced their decision to step down as senior royals in January 2020. They officially left the royal family in March of the same year.