The Royal Family gathered for the notorious ‘Sandringham Summit’ on January 13, 2020.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry stepped down in 2020 (Image: WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s decision to step back from royal life in 2020, was quickly followed by a meeting with the most senior members of the family, in a meeting dubbed the ‘Sandringham summit’. Six years ago tomorrow, on January 8 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex released a statement with the intention of stepping back from the Royal Family.

On January 13, 2020, the late Monarch gathered the then-Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry to discuss how best to navigate ‘Megxit’ during peacekeeping talks. Meghan was pregnant at the time with Prince Archie, and did not travel to Sandringham from Canada, but she was reportedly set to join the discussions via video call.

However, “technical issues” prevented her from participating in the meeting that day, according to royal author, Robert Jobson, as reported in the Daily Mail.

Intimate details of what exactly was discussed during the 90-minute conference in the Long Library remain a secret to this day, but the Sandringham Summit was highly “emotional”, Mr Jobson claimed.

According to the author, the late Queen was adamant that the royal couple “must be stripped of their patronages and banned from using their HRH titles personally and commercially”.

Her personal sadness was clear from her message issued after the meeting. She stated: “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.”

Any hopes of a ‘half-in, half-out’ agreement were destroyed by the Palace’s statement that the Sussexes would be stripped of their HRH titles on January 19.

The late Queen issued a statement after the Sandringham Summit (Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)

During Harry and Meghan’s 2022 Netflix docuseries, released a couple of years after relocating to America, Meghan claimed she was not able to attend the summit, and said: “Imagine a conversation, a roundtable discussion about the future of your life.

“When the stakes are this high. And you, as the mom and the wife and the target, in many regards, aren’t invited to have a seat at the table.”

Harry added: “It was clear to me that they planned it out so that you weren’t in the room.”

Harry also claimed that the summit was merely “for show” and a decision had already been decided by the Royal Family.