It was while they were in Southern Africa in September last year that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle lit the fuse on the bomb that detonated inside the British royal family on Wednesday.
Speaking to journalist Tom Bradby for a TV documentary, Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, the Duchess of Sussex said incessant, negative media reports had made her life harder when she was already “really vulnerable”.
The 38-year-old former actress told Bradby it was a “very real thing to be going through behind the scenes” and replied “yes” when asked if it had “really been a struggle”, adding that she was “not really OK”.
Bradby, an anchor on ITV’s News at Ten in the UK, accompanied Harry and Meghan on their trip to SA, Botswana, Angola and Malawi.
He said this week the royal couple were “plotting their escape” during that trip.
Shortly before they arrived back in the UK from Africa with their then five-month-old son Archie, Harry ruffled royal feathers with a statement accusing sections of the British tabloid press of pursuing a “ruthless campaign” against his wife.
Alongside an announcement that Meghan was suing the Mail on Sunday for publishing a private letter she wrote to her father, Harry said some newspapers had “vilified [Meghan] almost daily for the past nine months” and published “lie after lie”.
In a fresh statement on Wednesday, Harry and Meghan said they were stepping back from their roles as senior members of the royal family, would split their time between the UK and North America and wanted financial independence.
Bradby said on Friday the statement was the outcome of “toxic” relationships with other family members, in particular Harry’s brother Prince William and his wife Kate.
Certainly the rest of the family find Harry and Meghan very difficult and, from Harry and Meghan’s point of view, they’re just being driven out, as they see it.
— Tom Bradby
And he said Buckingham Palace had made clear to Harry and Meghan “there was going to be a slimmed-down monarchy and they weren’t really a part of it”.
Bradby said: “Certainly the rest of the family find Harry and Meghan very difficult and, from Harry and Meghan’s point of view, they’re just being driven out, as they see it. There’s so much anger and … it looks like it might get worse, not better.”
Palace sources denied Bradby’s claims, but Meghan has already flown back to Canada, where the Sussexes spent December on Vancouver Island. Archie stayed there with a nanny when Harry and Meghan travelled to the UK on Monday.
Royal aides were spending the weekend trying to find ways to heal the rift. UK media reports yesterday said officials from the UK and Canadian governments were involved, and the talks were taking place “at pace”.
Queen Elizabeth wants the crisis to last no longer than the six days it took for Prince Andrew to announce he was quitting royal duties after a disastrous TV interview about his friendship with US paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, The Telegraph reported.
Harry is expected to rejoin Meghan in Canada next weekend after he hosts the draw for the Rugby League World Cup on Thursday. There are fears it will be his last official engagement as a working royal.
The Mail reported that Meghan did not have a return ticket to London.
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