Prince Harry first met Meghan Markle in 2016 and then the pair quit as senior royals in 2020 – but one expert has said the signs were there for Harry leaving the UK long before.

Prince Harry’s exit from the Royal Family may have been hinted at around 10 years before he met Meghan Markle, a royal expert has claimed.

Royal commentator Tom Quinn said the Duke of Sussex found life on the Afghan frontlines “better than staying in the UK”, as it offered him a sense of belonging he never experienced with the Royal Family.

Harry served in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2008, a whole nine years before he would meet Meghan in 2016 and it wouldn’t be for another four years that the couple stepped down as working royals.

Mr Quinn pointed out that Harry’s military service was a rare respite from the grief and alienation he’s faced since childhood, particularly related to his mother Princess Diana’s own sense of being an outsider.

He explained: “Harry’s statement that fighting in Afghanistan was better than remaining in Britain makes complete sense given that we know one of the few periods in his life during which he was happy was his time in the military. Fighting in Afghanistan gave him a sense of camaraderie that he has never had with his family.”

The Duke of Sussex has faced backlash for his apparent fixation on criticising the Royal Family, mirroring the late Princess Diana’s infamous battles with ‘The Firm’.

In his explosive memoir ‘Spare’, Harry delves into his quest for familial “peace” while paying tribute to Princess Diana’s legacy.

Royal expert Mr Quinn has voiced concerns that Prince Harry’s intense focus on his late mother, Princess Diana, could be causing history to repeat itself.

“Harry’s comment in Spare that he ‘wants peace’ with the royal family for the sake of his mother is undoubtedly heartfelt, but in being so focused on Diana, Harry is actually allowing history to repeat itself,” he remarked to the Mirror.

“Diana famously fell out with ‘the firm’ as she called it and spent much of her adult life criticising an institution she felt had let her down. Harry has taken on his mother’s mantle by carrying on exactly the same kind of criticism,” Mr Quinn added.

Having lost his mother in a tragic car accident in Paris in 1997 when he was just 12 years old, Harry has been vocal about the deep impact her passing has had on his life.

“He hates that he feels he has to do this and he would like to be close again to his father King Charles and his brother Prince William, but like his mother he’s locked into a battle that has become an obsession for him,” Mr Quinn said.