Prince Harry’s Decision To Leave Royal Life Was Difficult For Prince Philip To Understand, Author Claims

Prince Harry’s decision to leave the royal family was difficult for his grandfather, Prince Philip, who reportedly believed the Duke of Sussex was committing “dereliction of duty,” according to a new book.

As People reported, veteran royal biographer Ingrid Seward wrote in Prince Philip Revealed that the elder Windsor patriarch believes the prince betrayed the family.

“He has struggled greatly, for example, with what he sees as his grandson Harry’s dereliction of duty… giving up his homeland and everything he cared about for a life of self-centered celebrity in North America,” Seward wrote.

The author also referenced another chapter in the monarchy’s history when a member left their job for purportedly greener pastures: the 1937 abdication of Edward VIII. The king had, not unlike Harry, fallen in love with an American woman — in his case, Wallis Simpson — but was forbidden from marrying her due to rules at the time that prevented marriage to a divorced person whose former spouse was still alive. Edward decided that his love was more important than his duty and stepped down from the throne, giving the job to his younger brother, George VI, the father of the future Queen Elizabeth.

The incident sent shock waves through the British government and public. For a while, it looked as if it might threaten the very institution of the monarchy itself.

“It appeared that his grandson had abdicated his responsibilities for the sake of his marriage to an American divorcée in much the same way as Edward VIII gave up his crown to marry Wallis Simpson in 1937,” she wrote.

Of course, unlike his great-great uncle, Harry’s marriage to a divorced woman — Meghan having been briefly married to Trevor Engelson — was not an issue, since the same rules that bedeviled the former king had been rewritten.

Nevertheless, Philip didn’t see any reason for his grandson to move to America, considering that he and Meghan seemed to be doing well in England.

“[Philip] has found it hard to understand exactly what it was that made his grandson’s life so unbearable. As far as Philip was concerned, Harry and Meghan had everything going for them: a beautiful home, a healthy son, and a unique opportunity to make a global impact with their charity work,” the author said.

In a larger sense, Philip’s purported exasperation isn’t limited to just Harry, but to the younger generation of Windsor Family members as a whole. Seward opined that the 99-year-old has “struggled” with how they behave. Further, he believes that his son, Prince Andrew, has “besmirched” the monarchy’s reputation for his reported connections to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.