When a crucial meeting was called to decide Prince Harry and Meghan’s future, the Duchess was left out of proceedings over fears that she was ‘smarter’ and would be harder to railroad, a new documentary has claimed

The real reason Meghan wasn’t invited to the Sandringham Summit exposed by experts(Image: Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation)

After Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex made the shock announcement five years ago that they intended to step back as full-time working royals, the rest of the House of Windsor was left scrambling. Whilst Meghan and Harry had always seemed confident and at ease during their official engagements, and been firm favourites amongst royal fans, behind closed doors things were not working for their young family – and they decided something had to change.

The late Queen Elizabeth called a meeting at her private Norfolk estate, Sandringham, to discuss the next steps, and finalise what Harry and Meghan’s future would look like, and what, if any, ongoing formal ties there would be between them and the monarchy.

The former monarch brought her private secretary, and invited Charles and Prince William – both at the time future Kings – to the meeting, which was dubbed the ‘Sandringham Summit’.

A new documentary on Channel Five – Megxit: Inside the Sandringham Summit – has seen royal experts come together to explain what really happened at the behind-closed-doors sit down with the senior royals, and it includes some shocking claims.

Meghan was not in attendance at the Sandringham Summit, having returned to Canada – where the Sussex family had been staying for some time – to be with Archie, who was then just a baby.

She had hoped to dial into the meeting remotely, but this was quickly dashed, so Harry had to go it alone and argue his case to his family – and the institution of the monarchy itself – solo.

However, one royal expert in the documentary has made the shocking claim that “the real reason” why Meghan was not allowed to join the meeting was because she was “smarter” than her husband.

Journalist and expert Emily Andrews claimed, “They all knew that Meghan was probably smarter, brighter, had a more linear view of where she and Harry were going and what they wanted and they probably thought they would get a better outcome with just Harry.”

The Duchess of Sussex has made it clear that she didn’t think it was particularly fair that she wasn’t allowed to join the summit that would have such a personal impact on her, saying in the couple’s self-titled Netflix documentary: “Imagine a conversation, a roundtable discussion, about the future of your life, when the stakes are this high, and you as the mom, the wife, and the target in many regards aren’t invited to have a seat at the table.”

Expert Charlotte Griffiths said in the new documentary for Channel 5, “I have to say, on that, I sort of agree with her,” and another royal expert – Jack Royston – echoed these sentiments.

“I have a lot of sympathy for Meghan,” the expert said, “watching from afar as this all played out basically having no voice in the room”.

However, one royal expert – Richard Kay – claimed in the documentary that the rest of the senior royals and their aides, “would have no way of knowing who else would have been in the room with Meghan, would there have been someone making notes? They simply couldn’t allow that.”