Read it: The first excerpt released from ‘Megxit’ tell-all book

If “Megxit” had its own dishy biography — this would be it. The Times of London has released the first excerpt from a new tell-all book by a pair of veteran UK journalists, and they offer an inside look at the bitterness and palace intrigue behind Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s split from the royal …

If “Megxit” had its own dishy biography — this would be it.

The Times of London has released the first excerpt from a new tell-all book by a pair of veteran UK journalists, and they offer an inside look at the bitterness and palace intrigue behind Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s split from the royal family.

“Finding Freedom: Harry, Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family,” is being serialized beginning Saturday.

It promises inside scoop direct from the royal family’s close confidantes — and while not officially sanctioned by Harry and Markle, it is shaping up to be particularly sympathetic to their side of Megxit.

The first installment includes these revelations by authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand:

Harry was disparaged within the palace walls for being “too sensitive and outspoken” — and he felt unprotected by his own family.
Harry, in turn, strived to protect his new bride from the palace “old guard,” some of whom “simply didn’t like Meghan and would stop at nothing to make her life difficult.”
Harry and Markle had immediately become international sensations, eclipsing even Prince William and Kate Middleton and the rest of the royals above their rank — and so “needed to be reined in,” many in the old guard felt.
William and Kate, meanwhile, were deeply hurt that private family matters were being aired in public while the royal family was kept in the dark.
Markle told pals that suffering the criticism of the vicious UK tabloids was like “death by a thousand cuts.”

Here is some of the first excerpt, as reprinted by the Times of London:

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Since getting married, Harry and Meghan had enjoyed calling their own shots. “Harry and Meghan liked being in control of their narrative,” a source said, which is why originally agreeing to fold their household into Buckingham Palace, instead of creating their own independent court, had proved a big disappointment to them.

Harry and Meghan had wanted to create their own individual household in Windsor, meaning their own office staffed with their own team, who would be separate from all others. But senior officials quickly ruled out that option.

The senior courtiers whom Diana used to refer to as “men in grey suits” were concerned that the global interest in and popularity of the Sussexes needed to be reined in.

In the short time since their fairytale wedding, Harry and Meghan were already propelling the monarchy to new heights around the world.

As their popularity had grown, so did Harry and Meghan’s difficulty in understanding why so few inside the palace were looking out for their interests.

They were a major draw for the royal family. According to a press report that compared the online popularity of the Sussexes with the Cambridges from November 2017 to January 2020, “Harry-and-Meghan-related searches accounted for 83 percent of the world’s curiosity in the two couples.”

The Sussexes had made the monarchy more relatable to those who had never before felt a connection. However, there were concerns that the couple should be brought into the fold; otherwise, the establishment feared their popularity might eclipse that of the royal family.

Increasingly Harry had grown frustrated that he and Meghan often took a back seat to other family members.

While they both respected the hierarchy of the institution, it was difficult when they wanted to focus on a project and were told that a more senior ranking family member, be it Prince William or Prince Charles, had an initiative or tour being announced at the same time — so they would just have to wait.

For months the couple tried to air these frustrations, but the conversations didn’t lead anywhere.

Worse, there were just a handful of people working at the palace they could trust. Outside this core team, no information was safe.

A friend of the couple referred to the old guard as “the vipers”. Meanwhile, an equally frustrated palace staffer described the Sussexes’ team as “the squeaky third wheel” of the palace.

Highly emotional and fiercely protective of his wife and son, Harry was drained by the unique circumstances of his family, which, as a source described, “doesn’t have the opportunity to operate as an actual family.”

While politics are part of every family dynamic, they are at a whole other level for William, Harry, and the rest of the royals.

“Every conversation, every issue, every personal disagreement, whatever it may be, involves staff,” the source said of the aides who invariably send and receive messages between the royal households.

“It creates a really weird environment that actually doesn’t allow people to sort things out themselves.”

No one could deny the fact that the couple was emotionally exhausted, whether they had brought it on themselves or were victims of a merciless machine.

“They felt under pressure,” a source said. “They felt that they were alone.”

For Harry especially, it was all getting to be too much. “Doesn’t the Queen deserve better?” screamed one newspaper headline, which the prince read online.

“These people are just paid trolls,” he later told a friend. “Nothing but trolls . . . and it’s disgusting.”

Scrolling on his iPhone, he sometimes couldn’t stop himself from reading the comments on the articles.

“H&M disgust me.”

“They are a disgrace to the royal family.”

“The world would be a better place without Harry and Meghan in it.”

The last comment had over 3,500 upvotes. Harry regretted opening the link.

His stomach tied into the same knot every time he saw these sorts of comments.

“It’s a sick part of the society we live in today, and no one is doing anything about it,” he continued.

“Where’s the positivity? Why is everyone so miserable and angry?”