Loss of patronage always likely for ‘absent’ Harry and Meghan

MEMBERS of the Royal Family are entitled to significant privileges. But they come with significant responsibilities too.

And, certainly throughout the reign of our present Queen, taking those responsibilities seriously has been important – vital even – in the eyes of Her Majesty who is the very epitome of duty to the nation.

So it was inevitable, although no less significant, that she should have decided, given the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to make their withdrawal from Royal duties permanent, that they would stripped of the patronages enjoyed as part of their Royal standings.

Some friends of Harry and Meghan may consider the Queen’s decision harsh. The couple themselves, now firmly based in California and expecting their second child, clearly had hoped to retain those roles. But Buckingham Palace, under – one can only assume – the direct orders of the Queen, was right to act in the way that it did.

Her Majesty and other senior members of the Royal Family are acutely aware that the House of Windsor stands or falls on the way it is perceived by the British public. Not so long ago, following the death of the Princess of Wales, sympathy for the monarchy dipped to a dangerously low ebb. On that occasion it was not a dereliction of a duty but a lack of empathy for the mood of the public that sparked concern among a large section of the population.

The political nous of Tony Blair and, we are led to believe, his press secretary Alastair Campbell helped to bring things back on an even keel. Ignoring public opinion – or misreading it – has been seen as essential to avoid by the Royal Family and their advisers ever since.

Prince Harry and his American bride enjoyed huge support when they met and subsequently married. They seemed to be just what the modernising Royal Family needed, moving seamlessly from one generation to the next and supporting Prince William, the future king, with an outlook on life well-suited to multi-cultural Britain in the 21st century.

Most people were prepared to take Meghan and Harry’s side during some of the more difficult moments when they faced close scrutiny from the media, with memories of Diana to the fore.

But when – for perfectly understandable reasons – the couple themselves decided to withdraw, moving to north America and, by all accounts, effecting a public breakaway without first privately consulting the Queen, that support waned.

In essence, people decided, it was the couple’s choice, but if they wanted out, then they had to lose the privileges that went with their Royal role and for which they need public backing.

The Queen gave them ample time to consider their future. But having decided they want to make a life outside of Britain and outside of the mainstream of the Royal Family, there is no doubt that their patronages, from the Prince’s role as Captain General of the Royal Marines, to the Duchess’s patronage of the Royal National Theatre had to go.

It’s a break-up only the Duke and Duchess appear to have wanted or, perhaps, needed to make. They now have to take the consequences.