This week, Prince Harry was interviewed by Hoda Kotb of Today and said, "We have a really special relationship. 'We have a really special relationship,' he said. Harry also said of his grandmother, whom he met with his wife Meghan Markle a week before her 96th birthday, "She's in great shape. She's always had a great sense of humor," Harry said."

The relationship between the Queen and the Duke of Sussex, according to biographer Robert Hardman, author of the Queen's recently published biography, Queen of Our Times: the Life of Elizabeth II (opens in new tab) Duke of Sussex have a mutual respect for each other. Although the queen is "saddened" by Harry's departure as an active royal, "I don't think that's all it is," Hardman told the Daily Express. She is still very fond of Harry."

The queen has always had an innate ability to separate family from company, doting on Harry as her grandson but holding the line when it comes to work.

"There's family and there's work, and work is non-negotiable," Hardman says. 'Harry, I can't do this. I'm sorry. That's the reality. Her people will tell his people that, and those conversations will take place at arm's length. But he is still committed to her and she is still committed to him. They still talk. I'm told he talks to her more often than anyone else in the family."

After a seemingly successful visit to Windsor before Harry and Meghan headed to the Netherlands for the Invictus Games, Harry and Meghan were reportedly invited to the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in June. (It coincides exactly with the first birthday of Lili, the Queen's namesake, on June 4.) Regarding the possibility of the Sussex family attending, Harry told Today, "I don't know yet. There are security issues and all that. So we're trying to get the kids to meet her [the Queen]."

In the same interview, Harry told Kotb, "I want to make sure the Queen is protected and surrounded by the right people."

Her Majesty seems to appreciate and value this relationship: "He's still cocky and gets away with things that others don't," Hardman said. She is fond of him."