The Queen has been getting some ‘really bad advice’, says Prince Harry

Harry recalls being told ‘do not come up here’ to Queen’s Estate by private secretary

Prince Harry claimed that the Queen has received some “really bad” advice from the people around her while discussing the lead-up to his departure from official royal duties with Oprah Winfrey.

In a previously unaired clip from the CBS interview, most of which was broadcast in the US last night, Harry appears to blame his grandmother’s advisers for her allegedly uninviting him and Meghan from lunch at her Sandringham Estate in January 2020.

Harry says he was told “do not come up here” to the Queen’s residence by her private secretary shortly after Her Majesty personally invited him and Meghan to visit and discuss their intention to step back from royal life.

He added that the Queen herself then told him there was “something in her diary” that meant she was busy when they had expected to come – but that he didn’t “push” her because he “kind of knew what was going on”.

Harry appeared reluctant to agree with Ms Winfrey that “the Queen gets to do what the Queen wants to do”.

He said: “No, when you’re head of ‘The Firm’, there is people around you that give you advice. And what has also made me really sad is that sometimes that advice has been really bad.”

Both Harry and Meghan praised the Queen in their interview with Oprah, with Meghan commenting that she has “always been wonderful to me”.

In the long-awaited interview, Meghan opened up about her mental health struggles during her time in the UK, and said she had at time contemplated suicide.

She also revealed that a member of the family had shared their “concerns” over the colour of her baby’s skin, when she was pregnant with her first child.

Winfrey clarified on Tuesday that the “concerns” were not voiced by the Queen or her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh.

You can contact the following organisations for support with your mental health in the UK: Mind, NHS, Samaritans. In the US, Mental Health America has useful resources.