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Daily Record
Entertainment
Tasha Hall

Harry and Meghan 'cruelty' towards Queen made final days painful, close friend says

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been slammed for their "cruel" behaviour during his late grandmother Queen Elizabeth's final days. A friend of the Queen said their behaviour made her last few moments as Britain's longest reigning monarch even more painful.

The late Queen passed away aged 96 last September, as the nation mourned her death - linked to bone cancer - while celebrating her incredible dedication to the country over the years which lasted over seven decades.

And now source told the US-based website the Daily Beast they believe the Duke and Duchess's scathing attacks towards the monarchy made her feel even worse in her final days, following the heartbreak of losing her beloved husband Prince Phillip in April 2021.

It all started with the ex-working royals bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview where they made blistering accusations towards the institution, as they stepped down as senior working royals in 2020 and moved across to the US with their children.

In the months that followed, Harry and Meghan released a Netflix docuseries of what they believed life was really like as part of the royal family and further fuel was added to the fire with Harry's publication of his controversial tell-all memoir Spare.

The Queen's close pal says the couple's accusations made her final days even more strenuous. (Getty Images)

It comes following recent reports that King Charles, who was crowned at the historical Westminster Abbey service on May 6 following the death of his mother, has been relieved as now Harry and Meghan is said to be putting a halt to content aimed at criticising the royals.

But according to the late Queen's close pal, it all comes too late with the damage having already been done when she was deteriorating in her health whilst she was alive and having to deal with the backlash.

The source added Harry and Meghan should have "bit their tongue" while the Queen was still alive, saying: "For the last years of her life, certainly from when her husband died in April 2021, the Queen was in a lot of pain.

"In the final months, of course, it got very much worse; by the time of the Platinum Jubilee (June 2022), she couldn’t see very much, she couldn’t hear very much, and she was easily confused. She barely moved from her apartments in Windsor Castle. Appearing on the balcony at the jubilee required a titanic effort.

"That was the time for Harry and Meghan to bite their tongue. Instead, they produced this unending stream of incredibly hurtful films and interviews attacking her life’s work."

They continued: "For Harry to announce he was writing a memoir when his grandmother was not just recently widowed but actually dying herself, as he must have known she was...well, the cruelty of it takes the breath away.

"The idea that they are now going to take a vow of silence after all the damage they have done, even if it was true, which I very much doubt, will do nothing to assuage the anger and disgust some of her friends feel about what they did to the Queen in her final years."

The Queen appeared frail at her final balcony appearance. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)

Queen Elizabeth was said to have died peacefully in her Balmoral home just days after meeting with the then- Prime Minister Liz Truss who was taking up the reigns of the country.

Only a few months prior the 96-year-old had celebrated her remarkable 70-year reign on the throne as Britain's longest-reigning monarch surpassing the reign of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, who spent 63 years on the throne.

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