Prince Harry and Meghan throttle down the royal PR machine
LONDON » A day before they cease being working members of the British royal family, Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, on Monday wound down their popular social media sites and transferred the management of their image and philanthropy to a new team of advisers in Los Angeles, where they recently moved.
The couple marked the milestone on the Instagram page where they famously announced their plan two months ago to “step back” from their duties and relocate to North America. It was a quiet coda to the dramatic rupture between Harry and Meghan and the House of Windsor.
Acknowledging that the world had changed since their personal saga commanded headlines, the couple said they would prefer that attention remain fixed on the coronavirus pandemic. They said little about their future, beyond noting that it would be affected by the crisis sweeping the world.
“What’s most important right now is the health and well-being of everyone across the globe and finding solutions for the many issues that have presented themselves as a result of this pandemic,” they said. “We are focusing this new chapter to understand how we can best contribute.”
Harry and Meghan said they would shut down the Instagram account, which has 11 million followers, as well as a website that uses the name SussexRoyal. As part of their severance agreement with Buckingham Palace, they agreed to stop using the term “royal” for commercial or charitable activities.
The palace said Harry and Meghan were dismantling their SussexRoyal philanthropy, which had been set up for their post-royal pursuits. They also plan to pay for their own security in the U.S., having recently relocated to the Los Angeles area from Vancouver Island in Canada.
The couple have also laid off their 15-member court in Buckingham Palace and recruited new staff members in the U.S. Catherine St. Laurent, who worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and for Melinda Gates directly, has become chief of staff to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as the couple are formally known. She will also run their new nonprofit.