Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's London visit on the day their royal exit became public knowledge has gone newly viral after footage was posted on TikTok.
Crowds can be heard cheering for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as they arrived at the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom, a diplomatic mission, on January 7, 2020, during what proved to be a visit beset by family conflict.
That day's edition of The Sun carried a story suggesting the couple would be spending more time in North America. Days later, they would announce that they were quitting palace life for good.
A clip of their arrival was liked 29,000 times and viewed almost 1 million times after it was posted five days ago. The on-screen text says: "The love they are receiving is stronger than the hate."
Crowds can be heard shouting their names, with many of those gathered behind a red rope waving Canadian flags in tribute to the couple, who had temporarily moved to Canada.
Harry and Meghan were all smiles, but behind the scenes a bomb was about to go off in the royal family's relations, with the duke and duchess leaving palace life for good.
The couple flew to Britain on January 5 hoping to speak to Queen Elizabeth to advance their hopes for a new royal model in which they would be "half in, half out."
However, her most senior aide canceled the meeting. Harry wrote in Spare, his 2023 memoir: "They're blocking me from seeing my own grandmother."
Two days later, Dan Wootton, then the Sun's showbiz editor, broke the news that they were planning to spend more time abroad, hours before their visit to the Canadian mission.
Harry wrote: "As expected, the story depicted our departure as a rollicking, carefree, hedonistic tapping out, rather than a careful retreat and attempt at self-preservation.
"It also included the telling detail that we'd offered to relinquish our Sussex titles. There was only one document on earth in which that detail was mentioned—my private and confidential letter to my father," Harry wrote. "To which a shockingly, damningly small number of people had access. We hadn't mentioned it to even our closest friends."
He continued: "January 7, we worked some more on the draft, did a brief public appearance, met with our staff. Finally, knowing more details were about to be leaked, on January 8 we hunkered down deep inside Buckingham Palace, in one of the main state rooms, with the two most senior members of our staff."
In the days that followed, Harry and Meghan officially announced they were quitting royal life, putting up a website detailing their plans for their new lives and new way of working.
This led to crisis talks among Harry; the queen; his father, Charles; Prince William; and senior royal aides.
In his 2022 Netflix series, Harry & Meghan, Harry said: "It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me and my father say things that just simply weren't true.
"And my grandmother, you know, quietly sit there and take it all in," he continued. "But you have to understand that, from the family's perspective, especially from hers, there are ways of doing things and her ultimate, sort of, mission, goal/responsibility is the institution."
Jack Royston is Newsweek's chief royal correspondent, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, Prince William and Kate Middleton, Meghan and Prince Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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About the writer
Jack Royston is Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent based in London, U.K. He reports on the British royal family—including King Charles ... Read more
