Prince Harry Recalls Queen Elizabeth's Reaction to His Royal Exit

If there is one person in the royal family Prince Harry holds pure love and admiration for, it's Queen Elizabeth II.

In his new interview with Good Morning America, ahead of the release of his memoir, Spare, the Duke of Sussex remembers his late grandmother and their lovely relationship.

He tells GMA's Michael Strahan, "My grandmother and I had a very good relationship."

When Strahan asks how the monarch reacted to Harry's royal exit in early 2020, the prince says his decision "was never a surprise to anybody, least of all her."

He continues, "She knew what was going on, she knew how hard it was. She never said to me that she was angry. I think she was sad that it had got to that point."

John Shelley Collection/Avalon//Getty Images

Harry and wife Duchess Meghan announced they were stepping back from their roles as senior members of the royal family on January 8, 2020. They have since built a life in California with their two children.

Despite his estrangement from the other senior members of his family, Harry remained close with Queen Elizabeth even after leaving the monarchy. On several occasions, he and Meghan would travel to the United Kingdom to visit the queen.

BAZAAR.com previously reported that the prince flew from London to Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8 upon hearing the queen was gravely ill; he sadly arrived hours after she had passed.

In Spare, he recalls the last words he ever said to her.

According to an excerpt from the memoir obtained by various outlets, Harry whispered to her that he "hoped she would be happy" and that she would be with his grandfather, Prince Philip, soon. (Philip died on April 9, 2021, at the age of 99, and the queen died on September 8, 2022, at 96.) He also told the queen—Britain's longest-reigning monarch—that he "admired her for having fulfilled her duties until the very end."

Rosa Sanchez is the senior news editor at Harper's Bazaar, working on news as it relates to entertainment, fashion, and culture. Previously, she was a news editor at ABC News and, prior to that, a managing editor of celebrity news at American Media. She has also written features for Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets. 

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