The Queen spoke 'as a grandmother' towards Prince Harry with 'friendly and warm' speech

A royal author has said the Queen spoke “as a grandmother” in her statement regarding the future of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Speaking on behalf of the Royal Family, the monarch said they were “entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family”.

“Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working Members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family,” she added.

Now Penny Junor, who has written several books on the Royal Family, has given her verdict on the statement, calling it “friendly and warm”.

"I think it's a positive statement. It sounds friendly and warm, the way the Queen talks about family so much," Junor said.

"That she's supportive of their decision is really good news."

She added: "It read to me like a grandmother talking about the family."

The Queen’s full statement includes the word “family” eight times.

Junor suggested that the Queen had “calmed the situation” with her statement, after Harry and Meghan “walk[ed] away” from their senior royal roles through releasing their statement without prior warning to the Royal Family.

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This follows a turbulent week which on Monday saw Prince Harry and Prince William release a joint statement to deny “potentially harmful” allegations about their relationship.

She added: “I think what [the Queen has] done quite cleverly is take the pressure off Harry and Meghan. I think they are in a very vulnerable, fragile state at the moment.

“I think they’re feeling unhappy, isolated, unloved, unappreciated and they’re lashing out in the only way they know how – to kind of walk away from the whole thing.

“It looks as though the Queen has calmed the situation a bit, giving them a bit of time to think about it – go across to Canada, there’s no pressure on them to do anything – it looks to me as though she’s not allowing anyone to burn any bridges.”

Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, has also commented on the Queen’s statement, calling it “very gentle and very informal" speech intended “to keep everybody happy moving forward”.

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She said: "It's just the way it's written is extremely informal, and I think that's to make it very friendly.

"And I think it's quite gentle. And I think that's probably the whole approach, it's gently, gently. And interestingly enough, she keeps mentioning family, the whole way through.

She added: "It's certainly not Oscar Wilde. But I just think it's a very together and quite loose statement and obviously it's just to keep everybody happy moving forward."