‘Impatient couple’ Prince Harry and Meghan ‘ran hot’ when negotiating Royal family exit

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are an “impatient” couple who “ran hot” while negotiating their exit from the Royal family, biographer Omid Scobie has said as he attempts to distance himself from the label of “Meg’s pal”.

Scobie, whose latest book about the Royal family, Endgame, is out now, said he would also advise Prince Harry to stop travelling on private jets while campaigning for eco-friendly travel.

His words came during an interview with The Evening Standard when it asked him to say something critical about the couple as evidence there was “no friendship” between them.

“Asked to criticise them to further his case, Scobie describes Meghan and Harry as ‘impatient’ and a ‘couple that ran hot’, which didn’t help negotiations about them leaving the Royal family,” the newspaper reports.

The criticism does not make it into Scobie’s new book.

He does, however, detail an episode in which Prince Harry was “called out for hypocrisy” by the press for taking four private jet flights in 11 days.

“It was not one of Harry’s wisest decisions from a public image standpoint,” Scobie concedes in print.

The author and royal journalist has defended himself against being labelled “Meghan’s mouthpiece” and “Meg’s pal”, saying he is “very tired” of hearing how close he is to the Sussexes.

“No matter how many times I explain that I’m not her friend… there’s always going to be a million people still calling me ‘Meg’s pal’,” he said.

“The reality is that there’s no friendship there.”

Asked whether accounts of deeply personal moments included in the book had come from the Sussexes themselves, he said no, adding: “There are enough people around them and in their orbit who know the ins and outs of things.

“If there’s ever been a private encounter with Meghan, I’ve spoken about it.”

He has said he was present at the Duchess’s final engagement at Buckingham Palace and received an unexpected personal phone call from her to check on his well-being in 2018.

Before Endgame was published, he tweeted:

Sources close to the Sussexes have repeatedly emphasised they have nothing to do with Endgame, telling multiple publications the couple are not affiliated with the book or its author.

They have previously insisted they did not contribute to Finding Freedom, Scobie’s first book.

However, in 2021, the Duchess apologised to the British courts for a misleading statement in which she forgot she had asked aides to pass information on to Mr Scobie and his co-author.

Jason Knauf, the couple’s former communications secretary, said in evidence that the book was “discussed on a routine basis” and “discussed directly with the Duchess multiple times in person and over email.”

The Telegraph has contacted the Sussexes reps for comment.