Ever since they stepped back from their roles as senior royals, it has frequently been reported that both Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have cut ties with many friends, as well as members of their respective families.

Following on from claims that the Duke of Sussex, in particular, no longer sees many of the wide circle of friends that he had back in the UK ever since he relocated Stateside, a leading royal expert has looked at how his “sacrifice” will make him feel.

Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond exclusively told OK!: “I think we can say that it must be tough for Harry to have lost touch with virtually all his old circle of friends as well as his family.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from their roles in 2020

The expert added: “But we must assume that he feels that sacrifice is worth it for the life he now has with the woman he loves and the children he adores.”

Jennie’s comments come after royal author and expert, Tom Quinn, told The Mirror: “Harry on the other hand is increasingly bored and looking back across the Atlantic where most of his army and school friends still live and whom he never sees because they won’t visit him in the States because they find Meghan difficult.”

This is not the first report of strained relationships between Harry and his close friends as investigative journalist Tom Bower previously wrote about the couple in his 2022 book Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War between the Windsors.

The couple were the subject of Tom Bower’s 2022 book Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War between the Windsors

The author spoke to 80 sources close to the couple and revealed everything from how Prince William reportedly asked his uncle Earl Spencer to speak to Harry to the changes the palace forced the writers of Suits to make after the couple’s relationship became public knowledge.

But one story that rises above all others is the suggestion that Prince Harry’s friends thought he was “f****** nuts” for dating Meghan Markle after she challenged everything they said with her “woke” values.

According to Bower, Harry invited 16 of his old friends from Eton to join him at Sandringham for dinner on Friday, shooting on Saturday and then lunch on Sunday.

Prince Harry reportedly held a shooting weekend at Sandringham where many of his friends met Meghan 

The author writes that Harry was “looking forward” to “endless banter” with his best friends but everyone left exhausted after meeting Meghan for the first time as she “challenged every guest who contravened her woke values”. He goes on to claim that Meghan “lacked any sense of humour” and was a “dampener on the party”.

Tom Bower writes: “He had not anticipated Meghan’s reaction. Their jokes, involving sexism, feminism and transgender people, ricocheted around the living-rooms and dining-rooms. Without hesitation, Meghan challenged every guest whose conversation contravened her values.

“She lacked any sense of humour. Driving home after Sunday lunch, the texts pinged between the cars: ‘OMG, what about HER?’ said one. ‘Harry must be f***ing nuts’.’