Queen Elizabeth hinted at Megxit weeks before Prince Harry and Meghan's announcement, former royal butler says

EXCLUSIVE: A former royal butler says the writing was on the proverbial wall for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal exit – we all just missed it.

Grant Harrold, who previously served as a butler to King Charleswhen he was the Prince of Wales at Highgrove as well as Prince William and Kate, tells nine.com.au that Queen Elizabeth gave the world a small hint weeks before the announcement.

"The Queen has got a picture... I think it's of William and Catherine, I think of the [now] King and the Queen, but none of Harry and Meghan," he says of the Queen's 2019 Christmas message, while promoting his new memoir about life as a royal butler.

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"The previous years, there were ones of Harry, there was Harry and Meghan [that year] there were none of them.”

It’s worth noting the Queen did reference the arrival of great-grandson Archie earlier in the year and a photo of Harry and Meghan flashed up on screen at that point.

However, the missing Sussex photo on the desk beside Her Majesty was enough to concern Harrold.

"I remember watching and I remember saying to my other half, 'Something's gone on – where's Harry?', he recalls to 9honey.

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"Nobody had picked it up at that point [but] I think that shows that tremors had already begun."

Harry had noted during the Oprah Winfrey interview that he'd initially raised the idea of his young family moving abroad and taking a year out of the spotlight with The Firm in late 2019, giving further credence to Harrold's theory that the Queen's Christmas message hinted at their exit.

But it's possible even Her Majesty didn't realise what was to come next – there's a big difference in taking a year out of the spotlight to stepping away all together.

The late Queen recorded her Christmas message in mid-December and just days into the new year, Prince Harry and Meghan announced to the world their plans to move to North America and adopt a half-in, half-out approach to their royal roles.

Their idea was later caboshed by Her Majesty following the famous Sandringham Summit crisis talks.

"Following conversations with the duke, the Queen has written confirming that in stepping away from the work of the royal family it is not possible to continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service," a statement said.

In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry recalled the heated summit, claiming it was his father, King Charles, and brother, Prince William, who were ultimately behind the decision, not his grandmother.

In the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, the Duke of Sussex also spoke about the meeting, to which his wife wasn't invited, he claimed.

"I went in with the same proposal that I'd already made publicly. But, when I got there, I was given five options," Harry said.

"One being, all in, no change. Five being, all out. I chose option three in the meeting. Half-in, half-out. Have our own jobs, but also work in support of the Queen.

"It became very clear very quickly, that goal was not up for discussion or debate."

"It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me. And my father say things that just simply weren't true, and my grandmother, you know, quietly sit there, and sort of take it all in."

'I did wonder if that could be the catalyst'

Harrold – who admits he's never met Meghan, as he stopped working for the royals before she came into the picture – says the former actress is the main difference in Prince Harry's life since he knew the royal.

He says the now Duke of Sussex was "best friends" with all members of his family – including his father's wife, now Queen Camilla, who he compared to a "wicked stepmother" in his memoir.

The former royal butler says this is not the Harry he knew – the young man who happily attached cans to the couple's wedding car on their big day in 2005 and was even involved in the wedding planning.

"The only difference, the only thing was, he fell in love and got married, that's the only thing I can see," Harrold tells 9honey.

"So something between pre-Meghan to post-Meghan changed – I'm not saying it was Meghan, it might not have been Meghan, it could have just been falling in love and having a family had somehow changed his view on everything."

Harrold tells 9honey there is one other possibility – the long talked about slimmed down monarchy may have been part of the reason the couple chose to walk away.

Again reflecting on the absence of their photo in the Queen's 2019 Christmas message, he recalls wondering if that was the beginning of the end in another way.

"I remember thinking, 'Oh, are they getting sidelined out?' because the future of the monarchy, they'd obviously said was going to be a smaller monarchy and I did wonder if that could be the catalyst [for their exit]," he said.

Whatever the catalyst for the family rift is, it's left the family's former butler scratching his head, saying he never saw it coming.

"I've said this the whole way along, even before it all kicked off, the relationship between Harry, his step mum, his dad, his brother and sister-in-law was... you couldn't get any closer," Harrold tells nine.com.au.

"I mean, he was best friends with them all."

The Royal Butler: My remarkable life of royal service is available in stores and online now.

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