Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Royal Exit Caused 'Very Serious Damage' to the Monarchy, Author Claims

A royal author claims that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle quitting The Firm in 2020 has done "serious damage" to the monarchy, especially with younger Brits, RadarOnline.com can reveal.

The duo sensationally left their roles as senior working royals to seek a new life in the U.S., leaving behind an aging roster, with the youngest members being Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton.

"I believe that the rupture in the family that saw Meghan and Harry go to the United States has done very serious damage to the monarchy," Divide & Rule author Catherine Mayer told Fox News.

"But to say that is not to say that I blame them for what happened," she noted.

"It's often taken as a criticism: 'Look what they've done to the monarchy.' I think this has been very painful for everybody and for the institution, but you need only look at the latest polling on the popularity of the monarchy to see that it is losing ground," Mayer shared.

Mayer cited recent polling in the U.K. that found the popularity of the royal family slipping, although she acknowledged that the scandal involving Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's arrest and ongoing information about his ties to sick pedophile Jeffrey Epstein did a great deal to move the needle downward.

However, the Charles: Heart of a King author said the Sussexes "undoubtedly" were able to connect with the younger generation of Brits and members of the Commonwealth that’s "not really there with the rest of the family."

"The only ones who can potentially do it are Kate and William, and they're more of a small 'c' conservative in their approach," Mayer said about the Prince and Princess of Wales.

William, 44, and Kate, 44, share three young children who are being brought out into public life more, as Prince George, 13, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, 9, recently attended the Commonwealth Games in a rare outing as a family of five.

While the British public adores the Wales children and watching them grow up, it will be years before they join the ranks of working royals, leaving the heavy lifting for keeping the monarchy popular among the younger generation to their parents.

"They're young, but they're in their 40s," Mayer noted of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

"Their children are really young. And there's nobody in between George and his parents, William and Kate, to capture the imagination of younger audiences," she explained.

"Harry and Meghan are basically the same age, but they had this appeal, a much broader appeal, and that's been lost now," Mayer shared when comparing them to the Waleses.

Mayer was quick to acknowledge that the chance of any harmony with Harry and Markle remaining working royals was slim to none, thanks to their contentious relationships within the family prior to Megxit.

"There were real frictions between the brothers, William and Harry, as well as between the women and within the palace system," the royal biographer explained, adding that Markle's alleged failure to accept that William and Kate would always outrank and outshine her was a massive barrier to peace within the palace.

"I don't think Meghan really understood that the monarchy will always give preference to the monarch and the immediate heir. And its members get very nervous when somebody feels bigger and more glamorous than the institution," she noted. "The last thing they wanted to do was make her into some big star."