I told Prince Harry not to leave UK, says Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson tried to persuade Prince Harry not to leave the UK with his wife Meghan, the former prime minister has revealed.

Mr Johnson said he was asked to give the Duke of Sussex a “manly pep talk” to convince him not to step back from his royal duties.

Officials from Buckingham Palace and Downing Street are said to have believed the last-minute intervention in January 2020 could have succeeded in talking Harry out of his decision.

However, despite his efforts, the Duke left for Canada the next day to be reunited with his wife and his son, Archie, triggering a rift with the rest of the Royal family.

‘Ridiculous business’

Mr Johnson said there was “a ridiculous business... when they made me try to persuade Harry to stay. Kind of manly pep talk. Totally hopeless.”

The disclosure comes in his memoir, Unleashed, which is to be published on Oct 10.

Mr Johnson writes that just weeks after his landslide election win, officials in both Downing Street and Buckingham Palace told him they believed he might be able to talk the Prince out of his decision to walk away from his royal duties.

The meeting is known to have taken place on Jan 20, 2020, during a UK-Africa investment summit in London’s Docklands and was one of the Duke’s final appearances as a working member of the Royal family.

At the time, it was reported that the Duke and Mr Johnson had “an informal ‘catch-up’ chat behind closed doors”.

The night before, the Duke had delivered a speech in front of guests at an evening event for Sentebale, his charity based in Lesotho.

In it, he had claimed he had “no other option” but to step back from royal life and spoke of his sadness that it had “come to this”.

The two men met for 20 minutes without aides as Mr Johnson tried to persuade the Prince to reconsider.

‘Harry wasn’t for turning’

A friend told the Daily Mail, which is serialising the book, that Mr Johnson praised Harry’s efforts with the Invictus Games as well as the Duchess’s work promoting the education of women and girls in developing countries, a passion of the former prime minister.

“He thought they were a great asset to UK plc and it was a real shame they were leaving when they were doing such great work,” the friend said.

“It was a man-to-man conversation, they were totally alone. But Harry wasn’t for turning – he was unpersuadable by that point.

“Boris succeeded in delivering Brexit but even he couldn’t stop Megxit.”

A week earlier, on Jan 13, Prince Harry had joined his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, father and elder brother for what has become known as the “Sandringham Summit”, in which they attempted to discuss the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s transition out of royal life.

‘They remain a valued part of my family’

Then, the Queen released a statement affirming: “My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family.

“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.”

On Jan 8, the Sussexes had announced they intended to “step back as senior members of the Royal Family” to “work to become financially independent”, choosing to “make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution”.

At the time, they were living in Vancouver Island, Canada, before moving to California where they eventually settled in Montecito.

In March 2020, they returned to Britain for a final week of engagements.

The Duchess has since returned for the Platinum Jubilee and the late Queen’s funeral.

The Duke has made regular short trips for charity events and is due to return on Monday for the Wellchild Awards. He is embroiled in a long-running court dispute over his security provision.

The UK-Africa summit is among the final events the Duke attended at the request of the UK government. It saw him hold audiences with the prime minister of Morocco, the president of Malawi, and the president of Mozambique.

The following day, he flew to Canada to rejoin his nuclear family, who later moved to Montecito, California.

Mr Johnson’s book is being serialised on the eve of the Conservative conference, where members will hear from the four remaining candidates in the leadership race.

He has not yet revealed which of the four – Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly or Tom Tugendhat – he will support.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on Thursday night.