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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had been planning their royal exit long before they announced it, according to a royal author. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex shocked the world in January 2020 when they released a statement announcing their decision to step down as senior working royals.

In their original statement on January 8, Harry and Meghan said that they wanted to split their time between the UK and the US, become "financially independent" while still continuing to "fully support" the late Queen Elizabeth. They said: "It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.

"We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages."

At the time, reports suggested that the royals, particularly the late monarch, were shocked by the Sussexes' decision.

Five days later, on January 13, the late Queen Elizabeth, King Charles, Prince William, and Prince Harry held a secret meeting, now known as the Sandringham Summit.

Despite the meeting and the Sussex announcement happening very quickly, royal author Andrew Morton said it was something Harry and Meghan has been planning for a long time.

Speaking at the Mirror's podcast, Pod Save the Queen, in 2022, he said: "Harry was having conversations in a London hotel with Oprah Winfrey back in November 2018, just six months after they'd been married.

"So they were thinking about a different direction of travel pretty early on. The irony is they had been given the keys to the first class lounge when Prince Harry was given the position of Youth Ambassador to the Commonwealth.

"This was effectively the [late] Queen's way of saying 'you do the rest of the world, leave William and Catherine to do the UK, where they will eventually be the Heads of State.'"

Elsewhere, he added: "They were thinking about living in New Zealand and they even spoke to the Prime Minister of New Zealand about this - so they had all kinds of plots and thoughts for their future.

"It didn't work out because when it actually comes down to it, Prince Harry is cursed with charisma but hates being a prince and I think that he saw Meghan as a way out. They didn't have to leave the Royal Family in the way that they did, but they did."

On the same day that the Sandringham Summit took place, Buckingham Palace released a statement on behalf of the late Queen.

It read: "Today my family had very constructive discussions on the future of my grandson and his family.

"My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan's desire to create a new life as a young family. Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working Members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family.

"Harry and Meghan have made clear that they do not want to be reliant on public funds in their new lives. It has therefore been agreed that there will be a period of transition in which the Sussexes will spend time in Canada and the UK.

"These are complex matters for my family to resolve, and there is some more work to be done, but I have asked for final decisions to be reached in the coming days."