According to Tom Bradby, The Duke of Sussex is said to be “heartbroken by the situation with his family” following his move to the United States with his wife, The Duchess of Sussex, and their son, Archie. Bradby, who is a friend of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, made the remarks on an episode of Love your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh.
Speaking on Sunday’s episode Tom Bradby, who also anchors ITV’s News at Ten, commented, “I think Harry is heartbroken by the situation with his family, you don’t necessarily need to have knowledge to know that, but I think it is true. Are they happy in America? No, I think they are content, the things they are doing they are quite excited by, but I think they wrestle with their position in life – I think they all do.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the decision to step back as senior members of The Royal Family in January 2020. ‘Megxit’, as the decision became known, saw Harry and Meghan make the move to the United States as well as become financially independent. The couple have given up a number of royal privileges and launched their own non-profit organisation and podcast Archewell.
In a move that was deemed controversial by many, Harry and Meghan have also signed a £100 million deal with Netflix to produce children’s programmes, films and documentaries.
Tom Bradby, who attended the wedding of Harry and Meghan, added, “Well, just the situation with the family clearly isn’t ideal and it has been a very difficult year for all of them. To some extent I felt a little bit caught in the middle of them with that documentary, which is a deeply uncomfortable place to be and that is, in a way, why I am always reluctant to say anything more because I don’t want to make anything worse or get in between anyone or anything like that.”
On 13th January 2020, an unprecedented meeting dubbed the ‘Sandringham Summit’ was called between Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex. Following the summit, The Queen released a rare, personal statement saying “My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family.”
An agreement between Buckingham Palace and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex was reached and some of it’s terms included:
- No longer representing The Queen
- Retain Royal Highness status but no longer use it.
- Frogmore Cottage would continue as their British home but they would pay a “commercial rent” for it.
- They would repay the £2.4 million renovation costs of Frogmore Cottage.
Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh airs at 10am on Sunday on ITV.
Photo: Commonwealth Secretariat