Prince Harry's Palace Nemesis Honored by King Charles

A palace courtier with whom Prince Harry had "significant tensions" during his exit from the royal family with Meghan Markle has been honored by King Charles III.

Sir Edward Young announced his retirement on Monday after 19 years of working within the royal household, first for the late Queen Elizabeth II, and latterly for Charles himself.

Young was Queen Elizabeth's principal private secretary from 2017 until her death, in the most senior position within the monarch's working household. Young controlled the royal diary, oversaw important events, and was the primary liaison point for the private secretaries of other royal households (such as the Prince of Wales').

On Monday, it was announced that upon Young's retirement, King Charles has granted him a peerage, made him a Lord-in-Waiting, and appointed him a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.

With his peerage, Sir Edward Young becomes Lord Young and will take a seat in the House of Lords, the upper house of the British parliamentary system. He will be able to vote to pass or veto laws put through by the House of Commons.

Young's plethora of honors given to him by King Charles comes as the courtier's public profile has risen in recent months, thanks to the monarch's youngest son, Prince Harry.

Young, as the queen's private secretary, was a key figure in Harry's working life within the monarchy. He was part of the discussions surrounding the prince's eventual stepping-down from his roles, and was even a member of the committee who decided to remove his state-funded bodyguards.

Tensions between Harry and members of the senior royal households had been reported before and after his move to the U.S. with Meghan in 2020. Two years later, it was pulled into greater focus when Harry told an interviewer that he wanted to make sure his grandmother was "protected" with the right sort of people close to her.

Speaking to NBC's Today show in April 2022, Harry spoke for the first time about being reunited with his grandmother during a quick visit to Britain on his way to the Invictus Games in the Netherlands. "It was just so nice to see her. She's on great form," Harry said, before going on to add: "I'm just making sure that she's, you know, protected and got the right people around her."

Many commentators and social-media users took this to be a veiled attack on the queen's closest aides, the two most senior of which Harry had reportedly experienced strained relationships with. One was Young; the other, Angela Kelly, the queen's formidable dresser and central figure in the 2018 "tiaragate" struggle.

Harry's issue with Young was more explicitly referenced during a hearing connected with his legal battle against the U.K. Home Office over the decision to remove his state-funded bodyguards when he moved to the U.S.

Harry said that he should have been told that "certain people" were on the government committee that made the decision. He added he had previously informed Young he was willing to pay for his own security, something that the private secretary should have raised with his fellow committee members.

Harry's lawyer told London's High Court, per U.K. newspaper The Daily Telegraph: "There were significant tensions between the claimant and Sir Edward Young."

Harry's legal battle over his security detail is still ongoing and, during this, he published his bombshell royal memoir, Spare, in January 2023.

The prince lists a number of issues he faced with courtiers in Spare, in addition to some scathing personal descriptions of their physical and professional attributes.

"I dealt mostly with just three [courtiers]," Harry wrote. "All middle-aged white men who'd managed to consolidate power through a series of bold Machiavellian maneuvers. They had normal names, exceedingly British names, but they sort more easily into zoological categories. The Bee. The Fly. And the Wasp."

Though Young is not named in Spare, a number of media outlets, including U.K. newspaper The Times, have identified him as "The Bee."

Harry wrote: "The Bee was oval-faced and fuzzy and tended to glide around with great equanimity and poise, as if he was a boon to all living things. He was so poised that people didn't fear him. Big mistake. Sometimes their last mistake."

Among the number of run-ins with The Bee referenced by Harry, the most damning is the claim that the courtier blocked the prince from seeing his grandmother, the queen, while trying to negotiate his exit from the monarchy.

"As Meg and I boarded a flight in Vancouver [in January 2020], I got a frantic note from our staff, who'd received a frantic note from the Bee," Harry wrote.

"Granny wouldn't be able to see me. 'Initially Her Majesty thought this would be possible, it will not...The Duke of Sussex cannot come to Norfolk tomorrow. Her Majesty will be able to arrange another mtg this month. No announcements about anything shall be issued until such a meeting takes place.'

"I said to Meg: 'They're blocking me from seeing my own grandmother,'" added Harry.

Young has made no public comment about Spare or Harry. After the queen's death, he remained with the royal household as a special adviser to the new king at the start of his reign and during the transitional period.

Upon the announcement of his retirement from royal service on Monday, the 56-year old said: "I am honoured to have served two sovereigns through historic times, and grateful for all the support and friendship of colleagues along the way. I am deeply touched by their kind words and tributes as I venture beyond the Palace gates, but look forward to staying in close contact in years ahead."

Newsweek approached representatives of Prince Harry via email for comment.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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