(Photo Credit: Karwai Tang/WireImage)

Harry and Meghan’s royal departure is more personal than we may think

Earlier this week, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they were “stepping back” as senior members of the British Royal family. But a friend of the couple says the pair actually felt “driven out” by the more senior members of the clan, including Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles, Harry’s father.

Tom Bradby, a friend of Prince Harry’s, says there has been a rift in the royal family since Harry and Meghan married in 2018.

“There’ve been a lot of fallouts; a lot of harsh things were said around the time of the wedding. And it’s gone a bit too far. And certainly, the rest of the family find Harry and Meghan very difficult and, from Harry and Meghan’s point of view, they’re just being driven out as they see it. And it’s sad,” Bradby told British media. “There are going to be so many complications, so many controversies. There needs to be a peace deal really soon because this is so toxic, there’s so much anger and, to be honest with you at the moment it looks like it might get worse, not better.”

Harry and Meghan did not mention family strife in their announcement. Instead, they said they wanted to focus on their charity work and would be splitting their time between Canada, the United States, and Great Britain.

“This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity,” the couple wrote on Instagram.