Dylan Howard - Royals at War: The Untold Story of Harry and Meghans Shocking Split with the House of Windsor

Copyright 2020 by Dylan Howard and Andy Tillett

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Brian Peterson

ISBN: 978-1-5107-6119-3

eBook ISBN: 978-1-5107-6273-2

Printed in the United States of America

PRAISE FOR DYLAN HOWARD

Dylan Howard is the rare combination of cutting-edge journalist, true crime commentator, and relentless investigator.

Dr. Phil McGraw, host of TVs #1 daytime talk show, Dr. Phil

Renowned.

Nancy Grace

A wunderkind Hollywood gossip reporter.

Columbia Journalism Review

Big-name producer.

Vanity Fair

Howard is a throwback to an older age of journalism.

Anne Helen Petersen, BuzzFeed

One of my favorite people in American media.

Anthony Scaramucci

A tabloid prodigy.

Jeffrey Toobin, staff writer at the New Yorker , CNN senior legal analyst, and New York Times bestselling author

The king of Hollywood scoops.

Ad Week

The go-to guy for authoritative showbiz news and analysis on cable and over-the-air television.

Los Angeles Press Club

When Dylan Howard focuses his attention to investigating a case, you can be sure he will uncover sensational new information that we, as readers, viewers, or listeners, will find astonishing.

Dr. Drew Pinsky, New York Times bestselling author and TV and radio personality

OTHER BOOKS BY DYLAN HOWARD

Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Aaron Hernandezs Killing Fields

Diana: Case Solved

The Last Charles Manson Tapes: Evil Lives Beyond the Grave

Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist

OTHER BOOKS BY ANDY TILLETT

The Last Charles Manson Tapes: Evil Lives Beyond the Grave

TABLE OF CONTENTS

AUTHORS NOTE

Over the past few centuries, the British monarchy has been sailing onward in a generally stately manner. Impedimentsdeaths, divorce, and natural disastershave rocked its course at times, sometimes perilously, but for the most part, there have been only a few really ugly and destabilizing icebergs in its path.

But as 2019 came to an end, a year Elizabeth II, the ninety-four-year-old Queen of the United Kingdom, herself expressed as being somewhat bumpythats Royal-speak for what you and I would describe as an absolute nightmaretwo ominous clouds heaved into full view of the monarchys serene path.

One was the astonishing self-immolation of the Queens favorite son, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, as he took to television to present a thoroughly disgraceful defense of his association with the late pedophile and Israeli spy Jeffrey Epstein. The resulting collapse of what was left of his credibility mired the Royals in controversy, but just as that was dying down, in the opening days of the new decade, the Duke and Duchess of SussexPrince Harry and Meghan Marklesensationally announced that they would be stepping back from their duties. In other words, they quit the House of Windsor, the reigning royal house of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms, a dynasty founded in 1917.

To underline their new brand, the pair launched a glossy website, sussexroyal. com, and announced they would be eschewing their Royal duties and income to become financially independent and focus their time on their charity commitments. It certainly is a laudable goal: Harry has done a tremendous amount of sterling work in promoting awareness of mental health issues in young people, among impoverished people in Africa via his Sentebale charity, and in organizing the Invictus Games, a magnificent initiative that encourages young disabled military veterans to participate in an Olympiad, a celebration of the human spirit, endurance, and resilience.

But to many in the country at large, the blame for the schism could be squarely laid at the feet of the Duchess, Meghan Markle. The British media are no strangers to xenophobia and hostility to change. With varying degrees of bile, Meghan, a cipher of progressive modernity, diversity, and social awareness, was seen as being utterly at odds with the staid, traditional, duty-bound structure of the Royal Family. Her perceived control over Harry has been at the root of disagreements with his brother, Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, and their wider network of old friends. And her conflicts with Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, only intensified speculation that Meghan was shaping her marriage and status to fit her needs above all.

It was hardly surprising, therefore, that the Royals were incandescent with outrage at the couples defection, the Queen said to be furious. They want to become the worlds biggest lifestyle brand, one Palace insider told me. If they are allowed to do so, the monarchy as we know it will cease to exist and a new celebritized Royal Family is about to take over. They want to have their cake and eat it, too. This is all about money.

Not since the abdication crisis of 1936, when Edward VII renounced the throne to marry the American divorce Wallis Simpson, had the monarchy faced a situation of such gravity. It was a crisis that exceeded the near-catastrophic fallout from Diana, Princess of Waless death in 1997. The decision of the young couple to extrude themselves from the Firm, as the Royals wryly refer to themselves, was a colossal rejection of the values, traditions, and beliefs that have kept the Crown afloat for countless generations. Now, as we watch Harry and Meghan begin the process of establishing themselves as professional ex-Royals in North America, William and Kate have been left in the United Kingdom to be the face of the future Royal Family, as it embarks on an epochal new decade. Unless medical science exerts a hitherto unimaginable miracle, the odds of the incumbent being on the throne in 2030 are remote. Therefore, it will either be Charles or William who will be King a decade henceand a new dynamic and purpose to the family will be in place.

The relationship between William and Harry and, by extension, Meghan and Kate will be fundamental in this new era. But as we enter 2020, those relationships are at their lowest ebb to date.

Ive put my arm around my brother all our lives and I cant do that anymore; were separate entities, Prince William told a friend. Im sad about that. All we can do, and all I can do, is try and support them and hope that the time comes when were all singing from the same page. I want everyone to play on the team.

Royals at War combs through the rich history of the Royal Family from its position and relevance to society today, to its German paternal descent and scandalsand takes an unprecedented look inside a divided Buckingham Palace to provide the definitive account of the current abdication crisis: