Harry and Meghan "resign" as royalty: "We want to work and be independent"
Prince Harry has announced that he and his wife, Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, intend to "step back as senior members of the royal family"
Harry and Meghan resign. On January 8 they announced that they will leave the role of senior royals, that is their official commitments, and will start working to support themselves financially. It is a sensational turning point that comes at the end of a crisis that lasted months and that saw the dukes of Sussex gradually estranging themselves from the monarchy. Now they let it be known that they will split between Great Britain and North America (United States and Canada): and at the end of this path there could be the renunciation of the title of Royal Highnesses.
The move abroad is part of a total rethinking of Harry and Meghan's role within the royal family: a topic that the couple will address in detail in the coming days in a series of talks that will also involve the Queen and Prince Charles. In the evening, Hannah Howard, the Queen's official spokesperson, released a short note in which she states that «the discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. We understand their desire for a different approach, but these are complicated issues and take time to work through. " However, the choice of Canada is not accidental. Meghan is particularly at ease there as she lived there for seven years, between 2011 and 2017, when she was shooting the television series Suits which saw her among the protagonists. The former actress has maintained many friendships on site and the couple have been particularly well received during the past Christmas holidays (among other things, they received a visit from her mother, who lives in Los Angeles).
The decision of the Dukes of Sussex not to spend the holidays with the other royals on the Sandringham estate, as per tradition, had already made headlines. And it was noticed that behind the queen, during her Christmas speech on TV, photos of other family members appeared but not that of Harry and Meghan. The two now have the feeling that they have somehow been pushed aside. Even the official photo published a few days ago, which portrays Elizabeth with Charles, William and little George, seemed to want to underline the centrality of the dynastic line: these are the characters on which the monarchy will focus in the future, to the detriment of the " cadets ".
But on the other hand, Harry and Meghan put a lot of their own into it, ending up on a collision course with public opinion and especially with the media. The public in particular did not like the extravagances of the Duchess: from the multimillion dollar party in New York with her celebrity friends, to celebrate her upcoming motherhood, to the decision to keep the birth of her son Archie and her subsequent baptism almost hidden. Then came the summer holidays wandering around the Mediterranean aboard private jets, despite the ostentatious ecological sermons, and moreover at the expense of a singer like Elton John. And finally, the million-dollar renovation of their house in Windsor, at the expense of the taxpayers.
The Sussexes seemed to have recovered, at the end of the summer, with a successful official trip to Africa: only to ruin everything with a sensational TV interview. On that occasion Harry admitted for the first time the "break" with his brother William, while Meghan indulged in a long outburst in which she complained about the constant pressure she was subjected to and the impossibility of leading a normal life. Their problem, it has been stressed several times, is that they want to enjoy the privileges of the royal family without submitting to the duties that a public role requires. Indeed, to want to lead a celebrity life and invoke the right to privacy, even if they were Hollywood actors: things that the queen would never dream of doing. An attitude that culminated in the lawsuit brought by the Sussexes against the major British tabloids: this too, something never seen before. Now they seem to have decided to take stock of all this: and choose the path of self-imposed exile. And it doesn't mean that someone at Buckingham Palace won't breathe a sigh of relief.
