The Harry and Meghan saga has taken a ‘terrible toll’ on the Queen, reveals REBECCA ENGLISH

The finale of Harry and Meghan’s modern day Elizabethan revenge tragedy ends with our hard-fought Duchess reading the speech she wrote for her own wedding.

What a happy coincidence that she miraculously managed to find it on her phone with the push of a Hollywood director being there!

In it, she opens up about “the man I love and the way we met,” and reassuringly tells viewers, “Let’s call it a modern day fairy tale.”

Well, there’s no doubt who the hero and his princess-bride are in this particular tale (starring entertainment mogul Tyler Perry, who has lent the couple his private jet, home and security team without ever meeting them, as the ultimate money-spinning good fairy ).

Her late Majesty was devastated by her grandson’s actions. The way the saga played out so bitterly was recently described as taking a “horrible toll” on the Queen’s well-being, Rebecca English has been told

And the villains?

Step forward, the Prince and Princess of Wales, who are openly portrayed as sneering and jealous ugly sisters, consumed by envy of Meghan’s success and conspiring with the evil media to ensure her downfall.

There is, of course, a scheming stepmother who is married to a rather unhappy father figure and is content to live in studied ignorance of her child’s servitude in order to live a quiet life. And then there’s the Queen – not evil in this case, of course – but one who is actively portrayed by her own grandson as a weak figure being manipulated by her family and scheming courtiers.

I’m free: Meghan after Commonwealth service in March 2020 – her last day as a working royal

In a chillingly spiteful statement, Harry (who, let’s not forget, survived two front-line deployments in Afghanistan) says: “It was terrifying that my brother was yelling and yelling at me and my father was saying things that just weren’t true, and my grandmother sits quietly and takes it all in.

“You have to understand that from the perspective of the family, and above all theirs and their ultimate mission, goal and responsibility is the institution.”

Harry has always endeavored to shield his grandparents from his increasingly hateful diatribes against the monarchy because he respected and revered his “Commander in Chief”. But for many in the family, especially now, these protests seem weaker by the day.

I am told that although Her late Majesty was devastated by her grandson’s actions, she had no qualms about making the difficult decisions that had to be made – whether that personally exclude him from attending the official memorial services or would stop him from attending a little bit of their Platinum Jubilee.

She had, of course, seen her beloved father, King George VI, go through a similarly painful history with the abdication of his brother, King Edward VIII. And her mother genuinely believed that the strain had contributed to her father’s early death.

The Queen has been very sympathetic to Harry and Meghan’s desire to seek an “alternative” life if that’s what would make them happy

But it hurt her, of course it did. She adored Harry, his mischievous sense of humor, natural empathy and zest for life, and missed him desperately. In truth, she was actually very sympathetic to his and Meghan’s desire to seek an “alternative” life, if that’s what would make them happy. But the way the saga so acrimoniously unfolded was recently described to me as a “terrible toll” on the Queen’s well-being over the past few years, leaving her feeling “very depressed indeed” at times.

She even told a friend that she was secretly glad Meghan couldn’t come to her beloved Philip’s funeral last year as she just couldn’t handle the public drama, despite liking her granddaughter-in-law. This is what William especially will find hard to forgive and forget – apart from all the truly slanderous brickbats he has even now faced at the hands of his brother and sister-in-law.

A source recently told me that the “noise” of recent years has been “really tough” on the heir to the throne. “It has honestly broken his heart that such painful family drama has unfolded on a global scale across the people he cares about most,” they said.

William in particular will find it hard to forgive and forget as the “noise” of recent years has been “really tough” on the heir to the throne

However, the same person also optimistically told me that they believed there was always “a hope” that he and Harry could mend their relationship. “It’s his brother and he actually has a low tolerance for people who are disrespectful to him. Even now, people are very careful about what they tell him about Harry,” the source said.

“The prince is a decent man and I personally believe he will keep that door open forever. I find it impossible to believe that these two brothers could say anything about each other that would mean they would never speak to each other again.”

That was before yesterday’s breathtakingly brutal hatchet, of course – and the deafening silence that emanated from Kensington Palace was a clear indication of how hurtful it had been.

For many of the main players in this sad, sad saga there is no doubt that more could have been done on both sides. The “institution,” a word Harry spits out as if it were poison on his tongue, while leaning back to accommodate the pair in his own funny way, almost certainly could have been less unwieldy.

And perhaps if Harry had allowed the family to work through their many problems privately over time, as the Queen had so desperately wanted before her death, an uneasy peace could have been brokered.

But Harry’s thirst for revenge – because that’s surely the only sane interpretation of his Netflix gig – has ensured that any hope of a fairytale ending, modern or not, hangs by a thread.