Meghan Markle and Prince Harry made headlines on January 8, when they announced they would be stepping back as “senior members” of the royal family. They released a joint statement that explained their reasoning, but there are still plenty of questions about the decision, what it means, and what the Sussex name will look like moving forward.
According to a joint statement the couple posted on Instagram, their decision to create some space as members of the royal family came after lots of careful consideration. They said they still plan to “fully support Her Majesty The Queen” while also separating themselves financially from the institution. The situation is complex and details are still unclear, but here’s what we do know so far.
Their statement:
The statement that the couple posted on Instagram reads, “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. We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages. This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity. We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support.”
The reasoning:
It’s unclear why, exactly, they’re taking a step back. While the announcement came as a surprise, there has been plenty of speculation that something like this might be happening. Markle and Prince Harry have each dealt with serious tabloid and media scrutiny. It got so bad, in fact, that they made the decision to pursue legal action against several U.K. publications last year.
They opened up about some of the struggles they’ve faced in the documentary Harry and Meghan: An Africa Journey. “I don’t think anybody could understand that, but in all fairness, I had no idea—which probably sounds difficult to understand here—but when I first met my now husband, my friends were really happy because I was so happy, but my British friend said to me, ‘I’m sure he’s great, but you shouldn’t do it, because the British tabloids will destroy your life.’ And I very naively…we’re American, we don’t have that there, ‘What are you talking about? That doesn’t make any sense. I’m not in tabloids!’ I didn’t get it. So yeah, it’s been complicated,” she said in the film.
She added later, “I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a ‘stiff upper lip.’ I really tried, but I think that what that does internally is probably really damaging—and the biggest thing I know is that I never thought this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair, and that’s the part that’s really hard to reconcile. I don’t know, just take each day as it comes.”
