A person with direct or close ties to Queen Elizabeth II rarely comes out to defend her good name, but Victoria Arbiter has stepped out this week.
In his new book, Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors, royal expert Tom Bower revealed that Prince Harry was furious in December 2019 when Queen Elizabeth decided to snub him and his entire family.
As customary, Her Majesty delivered a speech to the nation on Christmas Day.
She shares her well-wishes for the holiday and new year ahead and takes the opportunity to praise those who have taken heroic and selfless actions.
The Queen always sits behind a large wooden desk with multiple family photos. That year. Her Majesty delivered her speech to the nation surrounded by pictures of Prince William and his family along with Prince Charles.
There were no photos of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and their son, Archie.
Bower writes that the Duke of Sussex was upset by the Queen’s decision and added: “To Harry’s fury, there was no picture of him, Meghan, and Archie. The Windsors were airbrushing the Sussexes from history.”
However, Victoria Arbiter, a royal expert, who is also the daughter of the Queen’s former press secretary, Dickie Arbiter, has decided to reveal the true reason why Queen Elizabeth declined to have Markle and Prince Harry’s pictures on her desk.
The royal commentator said it was not a mean-spirited or rude gesture from Her Majesty.
She went on to say that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were excluded because she wanted to “highlight and promote the direct line of succession, as well as to offer reassurance to the UK in the aftermath of Andrew‘s disastrous BBC Newsnight interview.”
She shared: “It was inevitable that people would assume the Queen chose to leave them out as the war of the Windsors sells, but there was no slight or malice.”
She added: “So often, people try to read into every little thing and sometimes with good reason, but the Queen is not mean-spirited, nor is she petty. All her children and grandchildren could take offense based on who’s featured each year, but they know the system, and they know why certain decisions are made, so it’s unfortunate so much was made of the Sussexes absence. It wasn’t personal. ”
Weeks after the photo fiasco, Prince Harry and Markle announced that they were stepping down from their royal duties, and they eventually moved to California.
