Piers Morgan accuses Meghan Markle of 'splitting' Prince Harry from Royal Family after couple's announcement

Piers Morgan has said Meghan Markle is responsible for "breaking up" the Royal Family as he reacted to the news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be stepping back as senior royals.

After the announcement, the Good Morning Britain host took to Twitter to claim the Duchess had split Prince Harry away from the Royal Family.

"People say I'm too critical of Meghan Markle - but she ditched her family, ditched her Dad, ditched most of her old friends, split Harry from William & has now split him from the Royal Family. I rest my case," he wrote.

Cricketer Kevin Pietersen, a friend of Morgan's, responded: "LEAVE THEM ALONE, FATBOY!"

Read more: The front page reactions to Harry and Meghan ‘stepping back’ from Royal Family

The father-of-four then replied: "No. She’s breaking up our royal family after fleecing the public purse. As a taxpayer, and a Monarchist, I’m entitled to take a rather dim view of this."

Morgan has long been a detractor of Markle, whom he has claimed he was formerly acquainted with before he says she ceased contact with him as she became involved with the royals.

The statement released by the parents-of-one on Wednesday read: "After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.

“We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen. It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment."

They went on to say that they would now balance their time between the UK as well as North America, Markle's homeland.

Read more: Meghan's father Thomas Markle 'disappointed' over the couple's decision to 'step back' as royals

Morgan also lambasted the adjustments made to the Duke and Duchess' media relations policies, where they stated they would no longer be participating in the Royal Rota, a long-standing system used by Buckingham Palace which gives correspondents from UK newspapers access to royal engagements on a sharing basis.

The presenter stated: "Even Putin wouldn't try to pull a stunt like this."

He went on to accuse the couple of "spiteful treachery" against the Royal Family after sharing a tweet which branded the couple's move as one of "power".

It has been alleged that no senior members of the Royal Family were consulted before the release of the statement, with the BBC reporting that senior royals have been "hurt" by the announcement.