Doubters thought Megxit would be end of royal family, but 5 years on they’re stronger than ever despite Harry’s barbs

FIVE years ago today, The Sun revealed to the world that Prince Harry and his wife Meghan were “stepping back” from royal life and moving to Canada.

Next day, the couple ­confirmed our story. They issued a statement saying: “We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth and our patronages.”

Megxit, as we called it, sent shockwaves through The Firm and caused no end of trouble for the royals who remained.

At the time, commentators even questioned whether the Royal Family could survive if Harry and Meghan, the two most modern and forward-looking members, had decided to call it a day.

But, remarkably, five years on, I believe the Royal Family is stronger now than when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit.

The people have great affinity with the new King and with Kate and William as well as Queen Camilla.

Crowd went crazy

I have seen the evidence of this remarkable transformation when I travelled with Charles to places such as Bolton and Milton Keynes, where crowds that were once in the ­hundreds are now in the thousands.

When I went to Australia to cover the King and Queen’s visit last ­October, I witnessed the Royal ­Family’s bounce-back from the events of the past five years.

Huge crowds greeted the royal ­couple in Sydney and Canberra.

Many of those people had got there at five in the morning after travelling up to 300 miles to see Charles and Camilla.

That’s how much the modern Royal Family are loved in a country that has for decades loosely flirted with becoming a Republic.

And on Christmas Day at Sandringham, Catherine was sparkling, full of life, smiling as the weight of her illness has come off her shoulders.

The front page picture I took of her that day is now the screensaver on my computer.

I look at it and remember how the crowd just went crazy.

Kate was still talking to the people, receiving gifts and flowers and get-well cards, while the rest of the family were back in the house.

How different to five years ago when Harry and Meghan made their bombshell statement confirming they were quitting as senior royals — leaving the Queen “deeply upset”, with Charles and William “incandescent with rage”.

Many predicted the departure of these thoroughly modern royals would sound the death knell for the family.

Republicans rubbed their hands with glee and sat back with popcorn as the duo tore into the Firm. As one senior courtier put it: “This is a declaration of war on the family.”

Little did we know then how brutal that war would be.

After moving from Canada to ­California, Harry and Meghan ­certainly put the future of the Royal Family under real threat with what came next.

Their infamous Oprah Winfrey interview was a global ­sensation and was followed by their scornful Netflix series.

Then came Harry’s book, Spare, in which he let rip about the Royal Family and took aim at William and Catherine as well as Camilla.

I hated that book so much because, in my view, it abused all the privileges of belonging to a family — the most important thing in the world.

Even when the paperback came out, Harry didn’t make any alterations. He just let it go.

I always felt Harry had a great future with the Royal Family but he didn’t and clearly thought that as the “spare” he was going to be sidelined.

And when Meghan came along, he was totally in love and would do ­anything for her.

In that first year after they got married, I thought she was sensational.

Then, suddenly — as we revealed five years ago — she had made “the plan” and they were gone.

The plan was not just to move to America but deals with Netflix and Oprah Winfrey were already in the pipeline.

Meghan revealed how a member of the Royal Family was worried about the colour of baby Archie’s skin.

It was a simple query that I’m told happens in most mixed-race families when a baby is due. It wasn’t a big deal but it got the whole world ­wondering who said it.

The interview, screened in March 2021, prompted the Royal Family who are brought up to “never complain, never explain” to become more open and to meet the accusations head on.

In the politest way possible, Queen Elizabeth responded — some would say with perhaps too much politeness — when she issued her famous put-down “recollections may vary”.

And Prince William later told reporters: “We’re very much not a racist family.”

After the death of Prince Philip during Covid and the Queen passing in September 2022, the King who had waited 70 years to become monarch was struck down by cancer.

Again, we saw the new, stronger Royal ­Family as the King gave details of his prostate problems to encourage others to get checked.

Believe in forgiveness

In my view, Charles has bounced back from that amazingly well, and even though the doctors have told him to take it easy, he seems ­determined that his legacy is not to be that of an unwell man.

He wants to be like his late mother and spending his time doing good, not for himself but for others, which he has carried on just brilliantly despite still receiving treatment for his cancer.

The King has always wanted a slimmed-down monarchy, but because he and Catherine have been ill, and in the absence of Harry, there are not enough royals to carry out the amount of work they would like.

But everybody has rushed in to help out, with the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Sophie and Edward, doing many more engagements now.

Prince Edward will be representing the King at US President Jimmy ­Carter’s funeral tomorrow. It would be such a shame if we lost Harry for good, despite everything that has happened in the past five years.

I have always believed in forgiveness. Sometimes it is very hard, as I’ve found in my own life, but if you don’t do it you become bitter yourself.

If Harry genuinely put his life in Montecito behind him and came back home I think the people here would embrace him because they remember what a great person he was.

No one could blame William for not forgiving his brother

Arthur Edwards

I think the King would welcome Harry back too, because he is his son and will never stop loving him.

And it would be wonderful for him to spend more time with his American grandchildren, who he never sees.

No one could blame William for not forgiving his brother but, growing up, those two were inseparable.

They had a fabulous life as children and did everything together including skiing and flying planes.

And when their mother, Princess Diana, died so tragically, they became even closer until Megxit happened.

Now the brothers don’t even want to look at each other, which is sad.

But you can live in hope.

In the parable of the Prodigal Son the father killed the fatted calf for his son but the brother objected, and that is likely to be the problem this time.

Charles would welcome Harry but his brother will probably reject him.

One day, the brother will be the King and that seems to be more important to the future of the Royal Family than having Harry back.