Meghan Markle was described as Prince Harry’s “escape route to freedom” following his struggles within the Royal Family. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex sent shockwaves around the world in early 2020 when they announced they would be stepping down as senior working royals.

In a statement released on their social media accounts in January 2020, Harry and Meghan said: “After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent while continuing to fully support Her Majesty the Queen. It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.” A few days after the so-called Sandringham Summit, the couple mutually agreed with the royals to step down from a senior working capacity and not use their titles for commercial purposes.

What followed was a series of bombshell claims from the Sussex couple about their life within the Firm, most of which the Royal Family have never commented on.

And while the duchess has largely taken the blame for the bombshell January 2020 decision, now, a royal commentator has claimed that their exit was not just about Meghan not fitting in royal life but also about Harry’s struggles in it.

Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine said: “The truth is, Megxit was never just about Meghan and her struggles to adapt to royal life; it was just as much about Harry’s trauma, finally coming to a head after all those years. He wanted out as much as she did – and she was his escape route.”

Ms Vine claimed that Meghan “represented freedom” from Harry, away from his father and stepmother, the King and Queen, who he allegedly blamed for his “mother’s unhappiness” and away from the overall royal “curse”.

She said: “Even before he married Meghan, he was searching, whether consciously or unconsciously, for a way to escape his ‘generational curse’ and construct a narrative of his own.

“Unlike his elder brother, who married a woman deeply respectful of the institution and mindful of the duties involved, he didn’t need to worry about the succession. So Harry chose someone for whom none of it had any significance, who viewed it as just another role, and a faintly absurd one at that.”

The duke has opened up about his unpleasant experience as a working royal in his memoir, Spare, where he detailed his deep emotional isolation, the conflicts with the press and intense sibling friction with his brother, Prince William.

In his bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, Harry said about his time as a working royal: “I was trapped, but I didn’t know I was trapped.

“My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don’t get to leave. And I have huge compassion for that.”