Boris Johnson tried to convince Prince Harry to stay in the UK in January 2020

The photos of Prince Harry and Boris Johnson in this post are from January 20, 2020 in London. Both men attended the UK-Africa Investment Summit at the Intercontinental Hotel London. Note the date – that was Harry’s final day in the UK before he flew to Canada to reunite with his wife and baby boy Archie. Just one week prior to this, Harry met his family in what was dubbed the “Sandringham Summit,” where he negotiated the terms of his exit from the UK. So, after the Sussexes announced their exit and after the Sandringham Summit, the Windsors made a last-ditch effort to try to convince Harry to abandon his wife and child and stay in the UK. The Windsors asked Boris Johnson to intervene and do just that. From the Daily Mail’s exclusive excerpts of Boris Johnson’s memoir:

Boris Johnson made an extraordinary last-ditch bid to persuade Prince Harry not to quit the UK. The former Prime Minister reveals in his sensational new memoir that he was asked to give the Duke of Sussex a ‘manly pep talk’ to convince him it would be a mistake to leave Britain for a fresh start abroad with his wife Meghan.

Mr Johnson’s new book, Unleashed, will be serialised in the Daily Mail from Saturday, and is already tipped to become the political memoir of the century. He reveals that in January 2020, just weeks after his landslide election win, officials in Downing Street and Buckingham Palace believed he might be able to talk Harry out of his seismic decision to quit the UK and walk away from his royal duties.

The ex-PM writes that there was ‘a ridiculous business… when they made me try to persuade Harry to stay. Kind of manly pep talk. Totally hopeless.’

The secret meeting, which underlines the close links between No 10 and the Palace, took place in the margins of a UK-Africa investment summit in London’s Docklands. It came just hours after the duke gave an emotional speech in which he said he and Meghan were leaving with ‘great sadness’ but felt they had ‘no other option’ but to step away from royal life. The two men met for 20 minutes without aides as Mr Johnson tried to persuade the prince to reconsider.

A friend said Mr Johnson paid tribute to Harry’s efforts on the Invictus Games and praised Meghan’s work on their shared passion for promoting the education of women and girls in developing countries.

‘He thought they were a great asset to UK plc and it was a real shame they were leaving when they were doing such great work,’ the friend said. ‘It was a man-to-man conversation, they were totally alone. But Harry wasn’t for turning – he was unpersuadable by that point. Boris succeeded in delivering Brexit but even he couldn’t stop Megxit.’

The following day, Harry flew to Canada to be reunited with Meghan and their son, Archie. The family later moved to Montecito, California, where they remain today, having given up their lives as working Royals.

[From The Daily Mail]

I was going to say “it’s crazy to get a whole-ass prime minister involved in the royal family’s bullsh-t,” but then I remembered that there is a ton of precedent. John Major got involved in then-Prince Charles and Diana’s divorce. David Cameron issued a statement of defense about Hilary Mantel’s critique of Kate. And on and on. But yeah… even after the Windsors rooked Harry at the Sandringham Summit, hoping to force him into capitulation, they still asked BoJo to intervene and try to convince Harry to stay. Judging from the photos, Boris was also acting out the “Freedom Flight.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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118 Responses to “Boris Johnson tried to convince Prince Harry to stay in the UK in January 2020”

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Feels like there was maybe something else happening in January 2020 Bojo should maybe have been concentrating on.

    • Where'sMyTiara says:

      There’s a reason why he’s called “BoJo the Clown” in many parts of the world…

    • Elizabeth Regina says:

      Bojo and Harry are polar opposites in morals and character. He probably gave Harry the final push to high tail it out of sewer island.

  2. equality says:

    In other words they failed to get PH to buckle under by saying there was no “half-in” and tried to fix it by getting this tool to talk to him instead of coming back to PH themselves and offering him a half-in deal. How are they this stupid and inefficient that they couldn’t work at making conditions better for H&M?

    • Pinkosaurus says:

      OK, you can’t claim to be masters of soft diplomacy when you have to call in BoJo the clown to try to fix your epic mess. Why does Britain support this incompetent inbred family and their many hangers on again?

    • Oh come on. says:

      Oh, I know this one! Because they wanted Harry to divorce Meghan.

    • Jay says:

      This may be giving BoJo and his government too much credit, but do we think that by late January they knew the borders would have to close? That would have effectively trapped Harry in the UK if he had decided to stay even a few weeks more to try and “work things out”.

      • Jais says:

        That’s scary to think about. If the timing has just been a little off.

      • ML says:

        Jay, I honestly don’t know the answer to that (in the NLs around that time, people who had been on “ski vacations” started importing the virus. My kid got very ill a few weeks later and has heart damage from it.). Europe wasn’t taking Covid entirely seriously yet, but obviously, a head of state might have been better informed behind the scenes. I think you asked a very good question. Thank goodness Harry stuck to his guns!

      • swaz says:

        Just looking at the pictures with Boris, Harry had already checked out, you can tell he’s ready to leave 😕

      • ShazBot says:

        No, Harry and Meghan were back in the UK in March 2020. They *barely* got out.

      • aftershocks says:

        ^^ Right @Shazbot. That is more accurate in regard to the chronology around COVID. It was during the second week of March 2020 that many public venues and hospitals in the U.S. began locking down and people were being told to stay at home to protect against the deadly spread of the virus. In the U.K., Commonwealth Day Service was H&M’s final ‘working’ senior royal appearance. Meghan had a final youth-related event appearance at BP either prior to or immediately after the service at Westminster Abbey. She then flew back to Vancouver Island and Harry followed a day or so later.

        Soon after Harry’s return to VI, H&M were informed that their security protection would be pulled. They anxiously began reaching out to friends for help and advice since the Canadian borders would soon be closing and they would have been left stranded and unprotected. Canadian government officials had apparently been instructed not to assist them. 🙄 Chuck and the BRF thought Harry would be forced to go crawling back to the U.K. But, as we know, Tyler Perry came to the Sussexes’ rescue and the rest is history. 👏🏽🛩 🙌🏽 🌄 💪🏽

      • Francine says:

        From a public health standpoint no.

      • windyriver says:

        @aftershocks – I can’t remember the details in either Spare or the documentary of what H&M said about what occurred when during those weeks in 2020, but if you look at the actual timeline, by the last UK visit they likely already knew the security was being pulled and had at least tentative plans in place for what to do (Tyler Perry). Still, that last week must have been terrifying. Meghan met with the Commonwealth scholars on March 9 prior to the church service. After the service she was on her way back to Canada; but Harry was still in the UK. By 6 am on March 14, Harry had returned to Canada, they’d packed up their stuff, and were on the “freedom flight” to LA. Unbelievable.

        I don’t remember the situation at the time re: Covid restrictions in the UK and Canada, but they would have known trouble was coming in the US. NJ, where I live, declared a state of emergency on 3/9. NYS clamped down on a New Rochelle community with a Covid outbreak on 3/12. A national emergency was declared on 3/13. Parts of the SF area were under shelter in place. And finally, “the first statewide order in the United States that restricted mobility to reduce the transmission of coronavirus was issued by California’s governor on March 19, 2020.” They got out of the UK, then Canada and back into the US just in time.

        https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7405141/#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20the,exposed%20to%20stay%20at%20home.

      • aftershocks says:

        ^^ Yes, thanks @WindyRiver. I came back to confirm that Meghan had met with the youth group immediately prior to the CD service at WA on March 9. Per an article in Elle magazine dated 3/12/20, Harry had not yet left the U.K. as of Thursday morning, March 12. He had stayed behind for several meetings and events, one of which was the event with Boris Johnson, the topic of this thread. In my opinion, Harry most likely left the U.K. sometime later on March 12 or no later than March 13.

        Things were clearly happening at lightning speed. I cannot envision a scenario in which H&M would have returned to the U.K. willingly without Archie for their final appearances while knowing that their MET security would soon be pulled. 🤔 In H&Ms recorded vlogs, shown in the Netflix documentary, H&M displayed a clear sense of desperation, which to me was not evident in their demeanor during their U.K. Farewell Tour public events from March 2 – 9. Most likely, it was immediately after Harry boarded a return flight to Vancouver that his RPOs were instructed to inform H&M that RPO security would be pulled.

        An online Interfor International report states: “The D&D of Sussex were abruptly informed their security would be pulled, in early March 2020.” Wikipedia on Megxit: “[A Canadian government official] stated on February 27, 2020 that Canada would cease providing security for the couple on March 31.” Canada had been assisting the MET police in protecting H&M, but when H&M’s status as Internationally Protected Persons (IPPs) was removed in February, Canada released this statement.

        Obviously, Harry’s RPOs were still available until suddenly, they too were to be pulled. I can’t believe Harry had been told his RPOs would be pulled until immediately after Chuck & Co. realized their indirect efforts to solicit BJ’s help had failed. Thus, H&M probably made frantic phone calls on March 13 in Vancouver, and after speaking with Tyler Perry, he immediately sent his plane to pick them up for the Freedom Flight on March 14 to his mansion in Beverly Hills, where the Sussexes resided undetected for six weeks.

      • aftershocks says:

        According to COVID-related reports, the U.S. closed its borders to foreign nationals on March 16. Subsequently, “a restriction on non-essential travel across the Canada-United States border was implemented on March 21.” This obviously coincides @WindyRiver, with your indication of the Californiia governor’s statewide ‘mobility restriction’ issued on March 19. So yes, knife-edge timing was involved! The Sussexes’ desperation was warranted and palpable. They made it to California in the nick of time.

        Tyler Perry is a lifesaver. And everyone knows it, which adds heft to why he has received so many awards and honors in recent years related to humanitarian efforts and to his vast achievements in the entertainment industry. The Paley Honors Award will be bestowed upon Perry in December 2024. 👏🏽

      • ML says:

        BoJo and other leaders had access to more information on Covid and they didn’t react right away. I looked up the Dutch virologist, Marion Koopmans. She and others were informed by the Chinese on December 30 worldwide about the disease and how nasty it was. On February 6, she was publishing information in Dutch about it publicly and speaking of the possibility of vaccines being available in five months (didn’t happen) to fight Covid. Clearly the Dutch government didn’t listen or react to this on time, but they obviously must have known earlier (they were frightened of the economic impact and the consequences of fighting a virus that no one had any natural immunity to). In any case, the Dutch were publicly warned by the beginning of February.
        I think Jay’s question makes sense—BoJo probably would have been informed about what was going on with Corona by then, and potentially given the status of the royals, so was the royal family. They also were aware of when Harry and Meghan were bowing out. That H&M weren’t aware about the world possibility shutting down and they had to scramble to leave Canada says a lot about how they were kept in the dark by people around them.

  3. Andrea says:

    They should have tried to get Egg and Bones to stop being abusive racist a-holes.

    • Where'sMyTiara says:

      More people than WanK were racist, ableist, abusive a-holes. It’s the mortar cementing the entire institution together.

      • Andrea says:

        If they would have had their love and support it would have made a difference.

      • sunnyside up says:

        The royals are allowed to be racist, they are exempt from the race relations act.

      • aftershocks says:

        Yes @Andrea. The kicker is that the BRF as a family and as an institution failed to realize that presenting a united front to protect Harry & Meghan would in turn help to protect and salvage not only the institution, but also its reputation and stature. Both are obviously by now in the toilet, soon to be flushed away, along with the remnants of the institution, too. 😏 🤷🏽‍♀️

  4. Lau says:

    Johnson is a pathetic excuse for a human being who is currently trying to orchestrate a political comeback, of course he’ll use Harry’s name to try to better his image. He’s also a bigot and a racist so I have no doubt that he probably had to refrain from insulting Meghan in his sh*t book.

    • Hypocrisy says:

      Boris has been caught in so many lies, I don’t know if I could trust or believe anything he writes, and adding Prince Harry sure has gotten him a lot of attention he could not get on his own.

  5. Inge says:

    Once again perfect header pic.

    Rather weird that the royals tried to get the PM to intervene…..

  6. Chloe says:

    Instead if employing Boris to try and sway Harry’s mind they should have employed im to stop the onslaught on Meghan.

    • kirk says:

      “Sorry Harry, but your beautiful bolter has failed my Mum Test.” – DailyFail headline put on story written by BoJo’s sister, who, apparently, does not have “exotic DNA.”

      • Deborah1 says:

        @kirk – The Johnson family has Turkish ancestry, so yes, Rachel Johnson does have somewhat “exotic DNA”. It amuses me that all of Stanley Johnson’s offspring looked like the children from “The Village of the Damned” when they were younger.

      • kirk says:

        Deborah1 – IIRC BoJo’s sister was the one who tabloided her backhanded (thwack) compliment to Meghan, claiming she would bring racist-coded “exotic DNA” to royal offspring. Far more interesting to me is that BoJo’s sister claims to have apologized to Meghan, than her actual personal pedigree. Weirdly, my searches for proof of her so-called Meghan apology have turned up zilch so far.

    • aftershocks says:

      Ohh yes, @Chloe! Boom!!! 🫳🏽

  7. Jais says:

    Boris Johnson clouting this Harry story in order to sell his book is kinda funny. Even he knows what sells and gets attention. And that’s Harry and Meghan. And the very idea that BJ could convince Harry to stay. Please, that conversation was just further convincing Harry he made the right choice. I’m curious if it was actually the queen who asked Johnson to do this or somebody else. The queen wasn’t even allowed to sit next to Harry alone for more than five seconds during the whole sandringham summit.

  8. s808 says:

    “He thought they were a great asset to UK plc and it was a real shame they were leaving when they were doing such great work”

    Cry me a fckn river. Should’ve treated them better. Anyways, the PM getting involved is still nuts to me but this is why they keep going after M. The goal is still to split H&M but they haven’t learned that these attacks just make cling harder to each other.

    • Amy Bee says:

      What these people don’t get is even if Harry and Meghan divorce, which is what they want, he is never going to leave his children who will be living in the US.

      • Tessa says:

        Their children. I don’t think there is an even if. They won’t divorce. I am horrified every time I see a dm comment that harry should take the children away and return to his brother. Sister in law and father
        Those children would be treated badly by the keens and grandpa would ignore them

      • s808 says:

        How they can fathom H just up and abandoning his kids tells me they don’t know him at all.

      • Karry says:

        If anyone knows anything about leaving his wife and children it would be boris.

      • Deborah1 says:

        @Karry – so true!

    • Andrea says:

      Notice it is a quote from a “friend” about the meeting. Johnson could even bring himself to state that in his book? These people have such a fear of the monarchy.

    • Steph says:

      What is plc?

      • kirk says:

        PLC – contextually doesn’t make much sense here??? But it’s DailyFail…maybe they’re referring to the UK brand??? In UK plc refers to public limited company that’s allowed to offer its shares to public and is listed on stock exchange. Investopedia says all companies listed on LSE are structured as PLCs.

      • Deborah1 says:

        Plc is the abbreviation for “Public Limited Company”. From Wikipedia: “A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth jurisdictions, and the Republic of Ireland. It is a limited liability company whose shares may be freely sold and traded to the public (although a PLC may also be privately held, often by another PLC), with a minimum share capital of £50,000 and usually with the letters PLC after its name. Similar companies in the United States are called publicly traded companies.” Boris is using the term in this context because he’s trying to sound clever. Also, the British Royal Family is often referred to as “The Firm”.

  9. seaflower says:

    Boris Johnson having a “manly pep talk” with Harry: hahahahaaaa
    Boris Johnson having a “manly pep talk”: hahahahaaaa
    Boris Johnson “manly”: hahahahaaaa

    • LADY DIGBY says:

      Manly talk?? This clown has used and discarded wives and children through out his life so would have not problem telling Harry to kick Meghan and son to the kerb so he could remain “at the service of the crown!”

  10. Marivic says:

    For his book to sell, Boris has to use Prince Harry and Meghan as an important means to advertise his book. I’m sure there are a lot of higher profile events in his political career but it was this story about Harry that is highlighted to help sell his book. And these rotas always say the Sussexes are irrelevant. The irrelevant ones are leftovers William and Kate. Charles and Camilla, too.

  11. Anna says:

    For all that they claim that the BRF have no political power, they seem to get the PMs involved in their shit often enough

    • sunnyside up says:

      The monarch can and does sometimes refuse to sign acts of Parliament, or insist on being exempted from them, such as the race relations and the sex discrimination acts.

      • Anonymous says:

        The last time the monarch refused to sign an act from the UK parliament was in 1708. Just because the monarch hypothetically has the power to refuse royal assent doesn’t mean he realistically has that power.

  12. Amy Bee says:

    First of all for the ex-PM to use Harry and Meghan to sell his book shows that they are the most bankable people in the UK. But more importantly even as Harry was leaving the Royal Family never believed that he would give up his position as a working royal. Furthermore as somebody on twitter said the Royal Family was moving heaven and earth to prevent Harry from leaving but nothing to stop the abuse and press intrusion to make him stay. The Royal Family truly believes that people in the family should put with abuse and neglect.

    • Where'sMyTiara says:

      So the BRF realized what they’d done to themselves before the Sussexes finally left, then. That’s when the penny really dropped for Cluck et al, that these two were going to be well beyond the control of the BRF, and how fcked they were now that they had succeeded in driving H&M out.

      I think they were so locked in their own biases, they couldn’t let go of the goal of Harry ditching wife and child for this abusive institution he was born into. They literally couldn’t conceive of any other outcome at the time. And still can’t, apparently.

      • Pink tutu says:

        I’m. So confused! Bojo is a toxic liar of decades! Why is he a thought? So weird. There are few greater toxic a holes than bojo. Hilarious

      • Amy Bee says:

        @where’smytiara: The Royal Family was so confident that he wouldn’t leave when they gave him the ultimatum though. The one year review was put in place because they still believed Harry would realise that he was better off as a working royal and would go back to the UK. The press and Royal Family still believe that he will return one day.

  13. skylark says:

    Harry’s face in that top pic speaks volumes.

  14. Jay says:

    This is consistent with the Windsors’ view on Harry. They don’t see themselves as the problem – they think *Meghan* is the problem. They think somehow that if they can just get Harry to stay in the UK, away from his wife and toddler (!), that he’ll magically forget them and revert back to their fun, single, Harry. You remember, the one who hadn’t dealt with his trauma, felt trapped and unhappy, and was self-medicating. But that’s not the Harry that married Meghan! They really don’t know him at all.

    It’s a ludicrous fantasy, and it reveals so much about how the Windsors think – they also thought that he would listen to the PM just because of his title (a total misread on Harry, in my opinion).

  15. Eurydice says:

    OK, this part is from Johnson’s book – ‘a ridiculous business… when they made me try to persuade Harry to stay. Kind of manly pep talk. Totally hopeless.’ But the rest is the usual DM, “a friend said…” And I can’t imagine what Johnson could write that would make this the political memoir of the entire century.

    • Amy Bee says:

      Yeah, a guest on the Jeremy Vine show said that the piece in the DM is poorly written, that book is going to be bad and that nobody should buy it.

      • Jais says:

        Saw that! And then afterwards, Jeremy Vine gushed about what an amazing writer BJ was. Ew. Sections of the media miss BJ so bad. Not as much as they miss Harry but still🙄

  16. Agnes says:

    “Boris succeeded in delivering Brexit but even he couldn’t stop Megxit.” That sentence is cute, but makes no sense. Yes, BoJo is a clown, but I appreciate his unwavering support for Ukraine.

  17. Thena says:

    At this point in January 2020, Boris was still married to Marina Wheeler but living with Carrie Symonds, who was having his baby. I can only imagine the kind of “manly” pep talk he was giving.

  18. Trei says:

    Since the BoJo revelation did not make it into Spare, I can only imagine the juicy bits contained in the unreleased pages cut from Spare.

    • Roseberry says:

      That was my first thought -this wasn’t in Spare, ‘Harry shrugs and swats an irritating fly from buzzing in his ear “😃
      This is pure clickbait from the Fail, imagine you’re a former Prime Minister and during your momentous leadership the one incident that is chosen to highlight is your failure to dissuade someone from leaving home !!

    • swaz says:

      I thought of Tyler Perry saying ” there’s so much more they could have said”

  19. Oh come on. says:

    Harry made his decision about Meghan in 2017 and hasn’t looked back. Now he’s a happily married father with two kids, but the BRF and their minions still try to convince themselves it must be just a fling, he’ll get tired of her and leave his kids. And that that would be a good thing. Because she’s Black, and they’re racist.

    Dream on.

    Their marriage appears rock-solid, but even if they broke up, he wouldn’t return to the BRF because they mistreated him, and because his KIDS aren’t safe in the UK for the same reason Meghan isn’t.

    • Tessa says:

      When harry and Meghan were first seen together media said it was a fling. And wished divorce before they got married

  20. sevenblue says:

    I don’t understand? Harry said on Spare, there was only one statement printed by Bee: leaving royal life. So, why were they asking PM to fix it? They already decided that Harry had to leave before the summit. Was this an effort launched by another side of the palace that didn’t agree with Charles & Will?

    • equality says:

      They thought he would choose all in over completely out.

      • aftershocks says:

        Right @Equality. Harry said in Spare that 5 options had been drawn up by Chuck & Co for the Sandringham Summit, but Harry emphasized that only two options were actually on the table: All-in or All-out. @Sevenblue, as @Equality notes, the BRF nonces thought Harry would have no choice but to buckle under and accept All-in over All-out. When Harry courageously faced them down and said, “Okay. All-out,” the firm abusers and Bee (Edward Young) had only the All-out agreement printed. That’s how Harry knew that three of the five options laid out to him were never actually considered.

        If Harry had stood down and accepted All-in, everything would have stayed the same with no written agreement necessary. To save face and as a failsafe measure, the firm told the media that Harry had agreed to a trial period away for one year. The firm planned for continued media attacks to be lodged against H&M during that time. Harry was aware of the one-year trial period nonsense, but he never formally agreed to it.

        H&M were obviously hopeful that by remaining silent and taking care of their own business that the media onslaught, gaslighting, and harassment might cease. When the leak regarding Archie’s birth certificate occurred in early 2021, that was the last straw for H&M. They decided to speak out publicly in the Oprah interview to fight back. Meghan also leveled the fierce famous slapback against the rota: “…carnival of so-called experts…” 🤡 🫳🏽

    • Amy Bee says:

      The Palace never believed that he would leave. They thought he would be like Margaret who couldn’t give up her royal life for the man she loved.

    • ArtHistorian says:

      They thought that Harry would cave under their ultimatum because they really can’t imagine that Member of the Royal family would ever leave the institution behind. But Harry did not cave and then they sent the PM.

    • sevenblue says:

      But, one press statement was ready to go before the summit. There was no all-in statement. Even if Harry accepted all-in, they would need to announce it to the press. So, Harry thought, before sitting down for discussion, Charles & Will decided that H&M are gonna leave the royal life, which was the press release.

      • Tina says:

        I think they knew and accepted that he was leaving. They would have already planned to leak their location and remove security. The mistake they made was assuming the Sussexes would fail and not come back shamed, broke, embarrassed and ready to ‘behave’.

      • aftershocks says:

        ^^ No @Tina. Chuck & Co. clearly thought they would be able to control Harry with indirect persuasion, tabloid onslaughts, ultimatums, coercion, and punishments related to his love for military service. The firm’s first tactic was to leak Sussexit plans to the media before H&M could release a public announcement, which didn’t work. The next strategy was to get Harry alone at Sandringham Summit and bamboozle him with threats and humiliating treatment. That did not work either. Apparently, enlisting Bojo the Clown’s help was the firm’s desperate, last-ditch effort prior to removing Harry’s security as soon as he returned to Vancouver in early March 2020. Thanks to Tyler Perry, that latter harmful and dangerous ‘security removal’ ploy also failed.

        Yet, despite their failures, salty isle left-behinds continued to believe their machinations would work, coupled with their belief that H&M would fail. The firm engaged in numerous attack efforts in order to try and facilitate their hoped for outcome. And still, the firm failed! In regard to the Sandringham negotiations, Harry said in Spare that 5 options were outlined, but only two were actually on the table; All-In or All-Out!

    • Deborah1 says:

      The decision to send Boris Johnson to mediate with Prince Harry (if indeed this is true because Boris is a proven liar) can only have come from QEII.

      • aftershocks says:

        ^^ I doubt that @Deborah1. QE-II was not in control of BRF decisionmaking at that stage. Witness the Queen’s silent observer status at Sandringham Summit, as described by Harry in Spare.

      • sevenblue says:

        @Deborah1, I agree. Maybe not directly from QE2, since her office was controlled by Bee (chosen by Charles) at that point. But, there must be some people there competent enough to see what was gonna happen if H&M left the royal life. Before Bee, it was said QE2’s office was supportive to H&M. Even Harry said, most gray men thought they were the monarch. It wouldn’t surprise me a few of them went rogue and talked to the PM in order to bring H&M back to the cage. That also explains why BP is refuting the story, if it was done without the approval of Will & Charles and their gray men. I don’t see why Boris would lie about something like that.

      • sunnyside up says:

        According to BP it isn’t true. I find the best thing to do with Boris is to assume it isn’t true until proven otherwise.

      • aftershocks says:

        @Sevenblue: “… there must be some people there competent enough to see what was gonna happen if H&M left the royal life.”

        What do you mean @Sevenblue? For sure, there were a few staffers who were not negative against H&M and who likely understood the Sussexes’ value to the institution. But, the bottom line is that those who held the most power in the firm did not like Meghan. They also did not care about Harry’s humanity. Chuck & Co, and especially Willy simply desired to continue owning and using Harry, while bending him to their will.

        The biggest part of all of this, as we know, is Chuck’s & Willy’s extreme jealousy, and their inability to see anyone with smarts and charisma outshine them in the eyes of the media and in the public sphere. Harry alone they were accustomed to controlling. A stronger, self-assured Harry with dynamic achiever Meghan by his side was simply too much for the foolish left-behinds to coexist with, much less to embrace for the good of the institution.

        Leaving the institution, as has been proven, was the exact right thing for H&M to do. With the ignored history of systemic racism that exists in the U.K., and with the jealousy and toxicity H&M faced, Sussexit saved them. Unless a multitude of things and people’s attitudes had changed, staying would never have benefited H&M. What’s happening to the Sussexes now is great and well-earned. What’s happening to the rota and BRF is fitting, karmic, and well-deserved!

      • sevenblue says:

        ” those who held the most power in the firm did not like Meghan.”

        @aftershocks, what I meant wasn’t necessarily about staffers who like or dislike Meghan or care about H&M’s work. They let H&M go. Cults don’t do that and for a reason. They were so sure they were gonna crawl back to UK without security. However, some gray men must have considered the possibility of H&M not coming back ever. Harry left with all the secrets of the BRF. That is dangerous for the institution. That is why Boris’s story rings true to me. BP refutes it, but it may be because the request didn’t come from Charles’s or Will’s side.

  21. Visa Diva says:

    BoJo has a track record of dishonesty and stretching the truth so I’d look skeptically at anything he writes.

  22. Darkwing Duck says:

    And I expect not a single British newspaper will use any of this book as an example of how Johnson betrays confidences and cant be trusted… !

    You’d think that Harry was the first person to ever give an interview about his life or write an autobiography the way they go on about it. I think recounting memories is pretty much David Sedaris’ entire career at this point- I wonder if he’s stopped getting invites to family events?

  23. aquarius64 says:

    I believe the government and even the CoE would get mixed up in personal matters of the BRF; that goes all the way back to E8 and Wallis Simpson. In 2024 this makes the Windsors look really bad, which is why they let the press go after the Sussexes. When you think about it this shows how strong Harry is for choosing Meghan and Archie over these institutions. Dollar bet the government is pressuring William to stay married to Kate despite her and her messy family. The War of the Waleses 2.0 is a bridge too far and damaging to Brand Britain even today.

  24. Maxine Branch says:

    I can only imagine how nauseous Harry felt interacting with that clown Boris Johnson. He is nothing more than a racist buffoon.

  25. Is That So? says:

    They know Harry so well that they were trying to shackle him using his sense of duty. “A friend said Mr Johnson paid tribute to Harry’s efforts on the Invictus Games and praised Meghan’s work on their shared passion for promoting the education of women and girls in developing countries.

    ‘He thought they were a great asset to UK plc and it was a real shame they were leaving when they were doing such great work”

    The BRF great come-on was, you’ll never be able to serve the way you can serve serving us. Which elicited, “Service is universal”

    The BRF and tabloids knew people they had on hand was never going to do the work that needed to be done.

  26. L4Frimaire says:

    Harry knew to ignore this sly rumpled buffoon. A promiscuous racist clown like Bojo isn’t someone I’d take advice from either. Not to mention his utter incompetence as a PM. Don’t forget his sister who said Meghan and her “exotic DNA” wouldn’t pass her mum test. Seriously f*ck that guy. A lot of people think the Sandringham summit specifically took place without Meghan because they were trying to get Harry to stay behind and leave her and Archie. This is still what they want , which is why they still attack his wife and dismiss his children. These people are trash.

    • sevenblue says:

      When Meghan won her copyright case, Boris made a statement about press freedom and how they are gonna change the law, like Meghan did something wrong. All PMs support royal family members publicly, Meghan had no chance in that country.

      • L4Frimaire says:

        That’s right! Forgot about that but he definitely said it.Cloaking an illegal violation by the press as a free speech issue. Remember when she first filed suit and Rota said the Fails lawyers would tear chunks out of her. Why would they say something so vicious over a simple copyright case? Showed us then, like now, how extreme they get when the Sussexes fight back. 100% believe they offered Harry a deal to abandon Meghan and Archie and he said no, hence the stripping of security.

    • Darkwing Duck says:

      If you accept that Harry was duped by Russian pranksters pretending to be Greta Thunberg then you would have to believe that in March 2020 he called Boris Johnson ‘a good man’.

      I went to look at up that dialogue again just before posting and I was honestly surprised by how heartfelt and consistent he has been. He’s not diplomatic about Trump but he thinks Boris is essentially a good person who can be persuaded, at least that is what he represents to the person he thinks is Greta, which must still count for something. It honestly reminded me of the optimism about how he sometimes talks about his father and brother, they are being misinformed but we can set them straight with facts etc.

      It’s comical to think about Boris and Harry perhaps meeting and both thinking the other was the ‘mark ‘ who needed things explained to him!

      This all would make sense to me because for all his faults Johnson does at least pretend to care about the environment, his wife’s business is exactly the kind of patrician environmentalism in which the UK Royals specialise? He was able to become Mayor of London because he has, for a long time, been able to portray himself as a green and socially liberal Tory (a LibDem I suppose).

      Harry isn’t a republican or a putative Labour voter in my opinion, he’s not Tony Benn (socialist politician who renounced his title to sit in the House of Commons as an elected MP) so for me this all tracks.

      Harry’s been buffeted by forces beyond his control but I’d say it would take a further extreme event to completely wrench him away from what I’d assume are naturally small-c conservative leanings. I say this also because of not just his military background but continued belief in the institution of monarchy.

      I don’t know if I said this here before but I’d bet the house that before Jeremy Clarkson personally attacked his wife, he was also Clarkson fan… he’s always struck me as being smack in the Top Gear demo.

      • Deborah1 says:

        @Darkwing Duck – you raise many valid points about Prince Harry’s character. Of course he’s going to lean towards the Tories because of his upbringing and status. Harry’s a Virgo like me and we always see the best in people until we know better. I too liked BJ when he was Mayor of London but now I know better. And as for Jeremy Clarkson, I also loved Top Gear but when that piece he wrote about Meghan came out in The Sun, that did it for me. The fact that he (and Piers Morgan) is close to Camilla was the final straw. I used to be a Monarchist until the Princess Diana years, now I would get rid of the lot of them. When KCIII goes, I hope that’s the end of the Monarchy in Britain because Billy and Waity are not fit to continue it.

      • kirk says:

        The dudes who have supposedly duped multiple celebrities are hugely invested in maintaining their own credibility when it comes to their duplicity. Ironic, no? And what better person to achieve the notoriety they seek for their putative hoaxing prowess than media magnet Prince Harry. If they’re as good at impersonating one side of a phone call as they claim, why wouldn’t they do equally well impersonating both? Regarding whatever these self-admitted liars claim was said in unverified celebrity phone calls, I would take it with a very, very large grain of salt rather than suspend skepticism.

        Recall the Russian hoaxsters claimed to have tricked Elton John to talk to them on the phone? Tricked Elton’s voice sounds normal, even quiet. And yet, Billie Eilish told Howard Stern that Elton is virtually deaf — they endured an evening of shouting when invited to dinner at his place. Do you really place Russian hoaxsters credibility above Billie Eilish?

  27. Ohwell says:

    The palaces gambled wrong. All because they believed their own press about Harry.

  28. Gabby says:

    This is desperate and hilarious. I would like to know exactly who at BP made this request of BoJo. Was it the queen directly in one of their weekly meetings? Was it Chuckles directly? Was it rogue courtiers? I know we will never get that answer, but the Windsors should be embarrassed.

    • Unblinkered says:

      The British Establishment really does exist – comprising who knows who – and it would have been horrified to learn that H&M were leaving.

      It’s not impossible that the key players at the ‘Sandringham Summit’ (not QE2) ended up getting their knuckles rapped for their poor management of the H&M situation.

    • aftershocks says:

      One of the firm’s biggest mistakes has been strategizing around their errant belief that Meghan controls Harry. Chuck & Co. apparently have never realized nor accepted that Harry has a mind of his own and that he is a true leader. Many people overlook the fact that although H&M are equal partners in their marriage, it is Harry who made the ultimate decision to leave.

      Harry and Meghan have both told us, in the Oprah interview, in the Netflix documentary, in Spare, etc., that Harry is the one who chose to leave behind everything, in order to protect his beloved Meghan, Archie, and future offspring; their marriage; their sanity; and their future prospects for happiness together.

    • Magdalena says:

      Not BP, but almost certainly KP, in the form of one Simon Case, who is currently in new hot water over strategic leaks about the new UK government.

  29. Lavendel says:

    The head of the Church of England tries to get his son to leave his wife and child via a highly controversial legal politician?
    What a disgrace. But kings don’t care about people. If you look at the history of these people over the centuries, you know everything.

    Good King Harry 🌻This unserious man could never have reached Prince Harry. It just shows how little the father knows his son.

  30. Proud Mary says:

    The salient issue here is that Charles and William are still trying to get Harry to divorce his wife and abandon his children. This proves that all the noise surrounding the wedding, including the behavior of the Markles, was one hundred orchestrated by the BaRF. So, what they couldn’t accomplish prior to the wedding, is what they are still trying to accomplish, mostly by trashing and smearing Meghan. Everything you see now, the rehashing of the 5 email nonsense, the dusting off of the bulling accusation, is all born of the same scheme, to make her unpalatable to him, making him scurry back to them.

    • aftershocks says:

      Whether or not that’s the salient issue, without a doubt, all the left-behinds’ useless efforts to achieve such an outcome are and will continue to be a huuuge FAIL! 🤪 👎🏽

  31. Trei says:

    The Telegraph is already exclaiming that the Bojo revelation about the meeting with Harry was BS. It could be that the palace is trying to distance itself from the former Prime Minister.

    • Deborah1 says:

      Interesting ……

    • Deborah1 says:

      However, the Telegraph also says that sources close to the Duke confirmed that the then prime minister did suggest that both he and Meghan remain in the UK, but that other sources say BP is denying that they sent BJ to intervene. So, as usual BJ is embellishing the truth, i.e. lying.

      • aftershocks says:

        🤣😂😆 Most likely, there are a ton of lies in the mix from all of the salty isle nonces. But I can believe foolish Chuck & Co. sent out a last-ditch SOS to Bojo the Clown, immediately prior to giving the nod to remove Harry’s RPO security officers in Vancouver. 🤡💩🥚

    • Deborah1 says:

      @aftershocks – BJ has a long history of stretching the truth, from embellishment to outright lies. In this case he’s doing it to sell books. The shameless creature even thinks he was wrong to apologise for Partygate during the Covid crisis (I did nothing wrong, says he). I personally don’t believe anything which comes out of his mouth. If anyone from BP had sent Boris to mediate with Prince Harry, it would have been QEII not Chuck but I don’t think that happened. Even BJ acknowledges it was a pointless exercise in his book. I think they all knew it was a lost cause after the “Sandringham Summit” and Harry’s RPO protection was removed out of spite. The Daily Fail worships BJ and will do anything to promote him. I’m surprised the Telegraph, another right-wing rag, has rebutted the claims.

      • aftershocks says:

        It was surely not Chuck directly, but most likely his closest advisers who reached out to BoJo’s staff for the last-ditch intervention, if indeed the request to BoJo happened. Let’s not forget that Harry spoke to his grandmother as often as he could, and they shared a close bond. It has been reported that the Queen said she knew H&M were not coming back when they look their dogs with them.

        I think the Queen understood Harry’s heart, motivation and intentions. Plus, at her age she was no longer directly engaged in decisionmaking. Even in her youth, she allowed Philip to take care of the domestic sphere. Her thoughts about Chuck were as Harry quoted her in Spare: “He always does what he wants…” The Queen was largely checked out. Sometimes she would put her foot down, e.g., ensuring H&M attended the Jubbly with security protection.

        FYI– Harry’s royal protection was removed, not so much out of ‘spite.’ It was purposely removed to severely punish and control Harry. Chuck & Co blatantly thought that by removing Harry’s MET security, he would be forced to return to the U.K. The firm was aware that international borders would soon be closing. They obviously did not care about the physical danger and stress they were inflicting. They did not care about Meghan and Archie either. They simply wanted a resigned and defeated Harry to come crawling back.

  32. QuiteContrary says:

    I see those photos and just think, “Run, Harry, run. Get out of that hellscape.”

    So glad he did and that he and Meghan are living their best lives in California.

  33. Magdalena says:

    Note that the Telegraph was careful to say “BUCKINGHAM” palace has denied… But Simon Case, who was employed by William at KENSINGTON palace, used to work for Boris Johnson and subsequently returned to do just that after the ish hit the fan following M’s victory over the Daily Mail. So it is quite likely that Case (and Knauf) were the ones bending Johnson’s ear and trying to get H to remain in the UK after his wife and son had left. It’s exactly the sort of thing they would do. Somehow, I cannot see BP doing something like that, despite being as awful as KP. Kensington Palace is where people with connections to Johnson worked. The media which crowed about william “poaching” one of Boris Johnson’s “key” aides are now silent on that connection and using BP to claim plausible deniability.