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Prince Harry reportedly changed a lot after he met Meghan Markle, with a former schoolmate saying that Harry “hated woke nonsense” before Meghan came along. According to a former Kensington Palace staffer, the Sussexes are united by their perception that it’s the two of them against the world.

Meghan Markle wears whites and smiles while sitting next to smiling Prince Harry wearing a black top and crossing his arms
Prince Harry and Meghan | Samir Hussein/WireImage

Prince Harry’s former schoolmate explains how Harry changed after meeting Meghan Markle

In his book Gilded Youth, author Tom Quinn quoted Harry’s Eton College boarding school “contemporary” as well as a Kensington Palace staffer.

Harry’s former schoolmate explained how the Duke of Sussex changed (via Newsweek). “Harry hated all that politically correct stuff — all that woke nonsense,” the former Eton student said. “He was funny, a bit cynical and great company because, like the rest of us, he made jokes that we are no longer allowed to make.”

He continued, “After Meghan came along, he changed completely into what he would once have been the first to mock: a sort of a Guardian-reading tree hugger.”

The “Eton contemporary” added, “It was all Meghan’s influence.”

Harry and Meghan ‘feel it’s the two of them against a cruel world,’ palace aide says

Quinn also quotes a former Kensington Palace aide in his book, who remarked, “For a weak boy unsure of himself like Harry, [Meghan] is perfect because her absolute certainty makes him feel safe.”

They continued, “Meghan completely buys into the idea that Princess Diana was unfairly treated by the press and then hounded to death by them — she sees herself as being treated in the same way and for similar reasons.”

The staff member noted, “This is the glue or a large part of it that keeps Meghan and Harry together. They feel it’s the two of them against a cruel world and that their battle isn’t just for them — it’s for everyone who has been badly treated by the press.”

The staffer continued, “They can’t do anything without feeling it has global significance. Harry was never like this before he met Meghan. He had no ideas of his own.”

They added, “He rarely, if ever, spoke about global warming. He was a sort of Tim-Nice-but-Dim character who liked getting pissed (drunk) with his army and Eton friends, did a bit of shooting and fishing and was otherwise undistinguished.”

Author predicts Harry and Meghan’s future

A friend of Harry and Meghan’s shared with the author that the Sussexes “will focus all their energies on the next generation” moving forward — their children.

“They are the royal couple who gradually fade out of the public’s consciousness, but Meghan will send both children to the best schools money can buy and she will be determined that they achieve a great deal in adult life despite the huge difficulties of being the children of royals in exile,” the friend said.

Quinn also shared his prediction for the Sussexes. “Perhaps Meghan and Harry should remember that royal exiles often become bitter and twisted as time wears away at their glitter,” he wrote.

“Like Harry’s great-uncle Edward VIII, Harry will no doubt think he and Meghan will always be important, but he may discover — as Edward and Mrs. Simpson discovered long ago — that outside the royal family, they are mere shadows, creatures of ever-decreasing relevance.”