As every royal fan knows, Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle quit royal life in 2020. They left the UK with their son, Archie and moved to Montecito, California, USA, where they welcomed their second child, Lilibet.
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Since then, the Sussex family have rarely visited the UK, with Prince Harry’s last visit in August for his uncle’s funeral, where he didn’t speak with his brother, Prince William.
Four years after their departure, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is publishing a memoir, in which he claims he was asked to have a private conversation with the Duke of Sussex.
The aim of the conversation? To convince him not to quit royal life. Since this new ‘revelation’, the Palace has responded to Johnson's claims.
Boris Johnson’s allegedly ‘manly pep talk’
As per The Telegraph, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s memoir, Unleashed, will be published on October 10, 2024. In his new book, he claims that he was asked to talk with Prince Harry, who recently made a surprise TV appearance, to convince him not to leave royal life and the UK.
The talk allegedly happened in January 2020 at a UK-Africa investment summit, shortly after the Duke of Sussex announced he and Meghan were leaving with ‘great sadness’. In his book, he wrote that Downing Street and Buckingham Palace believed he would be able to convince Prince Harry not to leave.
Johnson wrote:
A ridiculous business … when they made me try to persuade Harry to stay. Kind of manly pep talk. Totally hopeless.
Prince Harry and Johnson allegedly talked for 20 minutes without aides, but the Prince’s mind had been made and the former PM couldn’t get him to reconsider. A friend of Johnson told Daily Mail that it was a ‘man-to-man conversation’.
It was a man-to-man conversation, they were totally alone. But Harry wasn't for turning – he was unpersuadable by that point. Boris succeeded in delivering Brexit but even he couldn't stop Megxit.
Buckingham Palace reportedly didn’t make a request
Sources close to Prince Harry have also ‘confirmed’ there was a meeting between the two men.
However, according to The Telegraph, Buckingham Palace did not ask the former Prime Minister to dissuade Prince Harry from leaving royal life and the UK.
The media reported that those who knew of the meeting have ‘insisted’ that the Palace had not asked Johnson to intervene. They added that it ‘cannot be ruled out’ that an official from Downing Street suggested the meeting but there was ‘no specific formal request’.
As of writing this article, Buckingham Palace has made no official statement concerning Boris Johnson’s claims, nor has the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
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Sources used:
The Telegraph: ‘Palace ‘did not ask Boris Johnson to persuade Prince Harry to stay in UK’
Daily Mail: ‘BORIS JOHNSON: My 'manly pep talk' with Harry in bid to stop Megxit - first extraordinary revelation from the political memoir of the century, serialised exclusively by the Mail’
Newsweek: ‘Secret Bid to Stop Prince Harry Quitting UK Revealed’
