A Glum Prince Harry: Duke's Friend Speaks Out About His Former Pal Not Being 'Fun' Since Marrying Meghan Markle
Prince Harry's former carefree attitude and spirit have been zapped since he married Meghan Markle in 2018.
"Who should be there, wandering around having a good time, but Prince Harry. He hadn't met her [Meghan] yet, so he was still quite fun," former footballer James Haskell shared when discussing Harry's jovial nature at Mike and Zara Tindall's 2011 wedding.
Although Haskell doesn't seem to be a fan of the Duchess of Sussex, he did praise the couple for their commitment to their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet Diana, back in February.
"Everybody's entitled to an opportunity to say what they want, and when someone feels like they and their partner have been oppressed, lied about, contradicted, and put into a corner. I think it's very important. I ended up inadvertently being a big defender of his recently. I speak to him every night every now and again. We're just sort of comparing notes about kids always being ill," the former rugby player said then.
Many royal analysts have pointed out how Harry used to be one of the most popular members of the royal family thanks to his down-to-earth appeal. This all apparently changed once the Duke of Sussex met the former Suits star during the summer of 2016.
"He won't say 'Good morning' to you and, he won’t acknowledge you. He treats the press like telegraph poles and ignores them completely," veteran royal photographer Arthur Edwards told an outlet in 2021 when discussing Harry's demeanor.
"The first 18 months, it was phenomenal," he said. "She [Meghan] was so good. And I was saying this on television, I said this girl's a great ambassador for our country and brought a new store in spirit to the royal family. And that last three or four months, it has just gotten so bad."
Edwards continued: "That last job she did [was] at Westminster Abbey on Commonwealth Day [March 9, 2020] when she... went straight for the airport, didn't even go back to the palace, went straight to the airport and caught the last flight to Vancouver, and we haven't seen her since."
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"While he has been feeding his chickens and riding around Los Angeles in an open-top bus, the Prince of Wales [the then-Prince Charles] and William, the people he rubbished, have been working unbelievably hard at the vaccination centers. The health workers, hospitals, they just never stop during this terrible pandemic that has ripped through this country, where thousands of people lost their jobs, and they've been committed to making people's lives better, and then Harry just goes off like that. I was so angry with him," Edwards concluded.
GBN reported on Haskell's remarks.