Prince Harry's four-words that 'doomed' Meghan's relationship with royal family

Several speculations have been made about what led to Meghan Markle's fallout with the British royal family since she and Prince Harry resigned as senior working royals. A royal expert recently claimed that it was actually four words by Harry that managed to "doom" her relationship with other royals.

Just weeks after announcing his engagement to Meghan Markle, Prince Harry guest-edited an episode of the "Today" show on BBC Radio. During the show, he spoke about Meghan's first Christmas with the royal family at Sandringham estate, and referred to them as the "family she never had."

Royal expert Daniela Elser told news.com.au that it was these four words that set "an unfortunate precedent" claiming his "impressive work, including an interview with Barack Obama, was largely overshadowed by a personal revelation."

The comment was given wide press coverage at the time and deemed insensitive towards Meghan's parents Doria Ragland and Thomas Markle. To be noted, Harry made the comment months before Meghan's relationship with her father Thomas grew sour and became public.

"However, three years on, in light of the events of Megxit those four simple words – "family she never had" – can be read in a whole new light. The unspoken implication seemed to be that Meghan had – and was going to continue to – fit right in with the house of Windsor," Elser writes.

Elser recalls another comment made by the Duke of Sussex prior to his wedding, where he said about Meghan: "For me, it's an added member of the family. It's another team player as part of the bigger team." She says that it seemed universally expected that Meghan would "cheerfully" fit into the royal family and "The Firm's" working, and things might have turned out differently for them if someone had a jot of foresight.

"This was a woman who had already addressed the UN and had undertaken international charity trips (to Rwanda and India) as a Global Ambassador for World Vision. Meghan came to royal life with fully formed charity interests and considerable experience with this sort of work," Elser writes, adding that it seeminly "slipped past the palace apparatchiks that Meghan was a whole other ball game."

The royal expert remembers a previous remark by veteran royal biographer and "The Crown" consultant Robert Lacey, who dubbed Meghan the "only one self-made millionaire" in the royal family and said things could have been different if "The Firm" sat down with her at the start and talked about things she is interested in.

"They just sent her off to watch the Queen opening the Mersey Bridge. There is nothing wrong with that, but they made the mistake of dealing with the spare's wife thinking she was just a routine royal. She was never going to be a routine royal," Lacey said.

A former senior courtier expressed similar sentiments to the authors of "Finding Freedom," a biography about Harry and Meghan detailing their exit as working royals. Elser writes in the article that "Meghan was a Givenchy-designed square peg they (royalty) tried to hammer into a round hole."