Palace attempts to resolve crisis
Queen orders royal courtiers to find future role for Harry, Meghan
LONDON — The Queen has moved quickly to take control of the crisis surrounding the decision by Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, to distance themselves from the Royal Family, ordering royal courtiers to sort out a future role for the pair within days.
British media reported Friday that the monarch, who is at her Sandringham estate in eastern England, held a conference call with her son Prince Charles and grandsons Prince William and Prince Harry.
The Royal Family is said to be “hurt” by Harry and Meghan’s statement Wednesday that they want to step down from being senior royals, with reports claiming they were not told of the statement beforehand. But the Queen, Charles and William have told their teams to work with government and the Sussexes to sort out a solution.
In the meantime, Meghan has gone back to Canada, where she had left their baby son Archie when the couple returned to Britain for their sudden announcement.
Meghan, 38, and Harry, 35, who were married in 2018, had spent the Christmas holidays in Canada instead of with other royals at Sandringham. The former actress is American but has long-standing ties to Canada, having lived in Toronto while filming the TV show “Suits.”
The talks come after the royal pair released a “personal message” Wednesday evening that said they were stepping back from being senior members of
Britain’s Royal Family, would work to become financially independent and would “balance” their time between Britain and North America.
Harry, a former British army officer, is sixth in line to the throne, behind his father, older brother William and his brother’s three children.
A friend of the couple, broadcaster Tom Bradby, said Harry and Meghan were made aware while in Canada over the holidays that the monarchy’s future focus would be on those at the top of the line of succession. An image of the monarch, Charles, William and his young son George released last week underscored the message of who the Windsors see as their core members.
Bradby, an ITV television anchor who filmed a documentary with Harry and Meghan while they were in Africa, appeared in a news program on his network and described the royal split as inevitable. The wish by the duke and duchess to leave the grind of front-line royal duty had been known, but the timing of their announcement was not.
“It’s certainly not true to say the palace were blindsided by this,” Bradby told ITV. “The couple’s view was they came back and wanted to talk to the family about their plans. It had been made clear to them in their absence there was going to be a slimmed-down monarchy and they weren’t really a part of it.”
Harry and Meghan, meanwhile, faced a barrage of criticism from the British press over their decision.
Harry and Meghan have long complained of intrusive media coverage and accused some British media commentators of racism. They slammed the country’s long-standing arrangements for royal media coverage and insisted that from now on they prefer to communicate directly with the public through social media.
The couple’s statement on Wednesday left many questions unanswered, such as what they plan to do and how they will earn private income without tarnishing the royal image. At the moment, they are largely funded by Harry’s father, Prince Charles, through income from his vast Duchy of Cornwall estate.
Harry and Meghan have considerable assets of their own. Harry inherited an estimated 7 million pounds ($12 million (Canadian)) from his late mother, Princess Diana, as well as money from his great-grandmother. Meghan has money from a successful acting career.