Royal biographer Omid Scobie's new book lifts the lid on the monarchy's fight for survival as well as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's exit from the royal life. Reflecting on Queen Elizabeth's death, the book claims, as per an extract shared with PEOPLE, "The Sussexes had no idea that Buckingham Palace was already planning for the Queen's final hours and the first days of the monarchy's new era - until the duke's phone started ringing. An unknown number. He usually ignored those."

After this Meghan Markle urged her husband Prince Harry to answer the phone and he accepted the call "just before it stopped". The book claims, “Harry hadn’t spoken to his father much that year, but this was not the time for any father-and-son tension. Charles told him he and Camilla were about to leave Dumfries House for Balmoral, where Princess Anne was already by the Queen’s side. He told Harry to make his way to Scotland immediately.”
Eventually Prince Harry was informed of his grandmother's health and managed to board a flight to Scotland. His team had to 'beg' Buckingham Palace not to announce the sad news earlier, the book claims.
"His team literally had to beg for them to wait for his plane to land and they reluctantly agreed to hold the statement back for a little bit,” it says. Prince Harry was stuck at the airport because of bad weather due to which the Buckingham Palace had to announce Queen Elizabeth's death soon.
"When Harry’s plane finally touched tarmac twenty minutes later, he received a text from Meghan urging him to call ASAP followed by a breaking news alert via the BBC News app with the announcement of the Queen’s death."
{{/usCountry}}"When Harry’s plane finally touched tarmac twenty minutes later, he received a text from Meghan urging him to call ASAP followed by a breaking news alert via the BBC News app with the announcement of the Queen’s death."
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