Prince Harry and Meghan Markle even kept the secret from their staff – including Prince Archie’s nanny Lorren.

Meghan and Harry spent time in Canada at the end of 2019 (Image: GETTY)

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle previously kept a major secret to themselves for weeks – that even their staff “didn’t know about it”, it has been claimed. The couple travelled out of the UK to celebrate Thanksgiving in November 2019.

Taking to Instagram at the time, the couple acknowledged the holiday with a post that appeared to contain a Canadian emoji – despite Thanksgiving in November being an American holiday. The couple and the Palace were tight-lipped about where the family of three were spending their planned six-week break – but it was known that they would be spending time with Meghan’s mum Doria Ragand.

It was also known that the couple wouldn’t be celebrating Christmas with the royals in the UK.

Journalist Valentine Low previously wrote in his book, Courtiers: “When Harry and Meghan went to Canada for their six-week break in November 2019, their escape was planned with the greatest secrecy.”

He added: “When the trip was announced – it was supposed to be “family time” according to the Palace, and definitely should not be seen as a holiday – Meghan was so concerned that news of their destination would leak that the couple would not even tell their nanny, Lorren, where they were going.

Sponsored“According to one source, [Lorren] did not know where they were going until the plane – a private jet, not Air Canada, as claimed by Finding Freedom – was in the air. Meanwhile, staff had been growing increasingly suspicious about the couple’s long-term intentions.”Explaining further, he added: “It had already occurred to them that the Sussexes might go and live in America. The fact that they had taken all their personal belongings with them to Canada, and their two dogs, seemed quite a big hint.

Meghan and Harry now reside in California with their children, Archie and Lilibet (Image: Instagram/@meghan)

“However, nothing was confirmed until Meghan confided towards the end of the year in a member of her personal staff that they were not coming back.”

He then added that some members of staff did not find out about the couple’s plans until January 2020. Mr Low wrote: “The rest of the team did not find out until the couple held a meeting at Buckingham Palace at the beginning of January. They found it hard to accept they were being dumped like that. Some were in tears.”

The couple are now living in California with their son Archie, now aged six, and their daughter Lilibet, who was born in the US in 2021.