Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's 2020 Exit Caused 'Very Serious Damage' to the Royal Family, Expert Claims: 'It Was Painful for the Institution'

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry shocked the world when they decided to take a step back as senior members of The Firm in January 2020, and according to royal author Catherine Mayer, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's choice to leave caused a "rupture" within the monarchy that may never be healed.

"I believe that the rupture in the family that saw Meghan and Harry go to the United States has done very serious damage to the monarchy," Mayer told Fox News on Tuesday, August 4.

"But to say that is not to say that I blame them for what happened," she continued. "It's often taken as a criticism: 'Look what they've done to the monarchy.'"

The Divide & Rule writer went on: "I think this has been very painful for everybody and for the institution, but you need only look at the latest polling on the popularity of the monarchy to see that it is losing ground."

Following the Suits star, 45, and the Invictus Games founder's departure, they moved to a $15 million mansion in Montecito, Calif., and Harry aired out the royal family's dirty laundry in his memoir, Spare, causing his relationship with his loved ones to crumble.

Ever since their relocation, the couple have seldom been back in the United Kingdom. Harry, 41, and Meghan were most recently in England last month where they took their kids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, to visit grandpa King Charles and Queen Camilla.

The Sussexes reunited with the monarch, 77, and Camilla, 79, at Highgrove House where their private meeting lasted for about an hour. Photos of the event are not expected to be released anytime in the near future.

Meghan, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, last saw Charles in June 2022 during the late Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee.

Meanwhile, Meghan and Harry have stayed estranged from Prince William and Kate Middleton ever since their royal exit.

According to Mayer, there were "real frictions between the brothers," as well as with Kate, 44, and the As Ever founder "within the palace system."

"I don't think Meghan really understood that the monarchy will always give preference to the monarch and the immediate heir. And its members get very nervous when somebody feels bigger and more glamorous than the institution," Mayer noted. "The last thing they wanted to do was make [Meghan] into some big star."