"All Are Saddened," Says Queen After Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Confirm They Won't Return to Royal Roles

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, will not return to their royal roles, Buckingham Palace confirmed in a statement recently. Also, as rumored earlier, the couple is going to lose their honorary titles and patronages, which includes numerous charities.

"Following conversations with The Duke, The Queen has written confirming that in stepping away from the work of The Royal Family it is not possible to continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service. The honorary military appointments and Royal patronages held by The Duke and Duchess will therefore be returned to Her Majesty, before being redistributed among working members of The Royal Family," the statement from the palace said. "While all are saddened by their decision, The Duke and Duchess remain much loved members of the family," the Queen's statement read.

The royal couple, who will still have their His/Her Highness titles and the title of Duke and Duchess of Sussex, released a statement clarifying their position as well. "As evidenced by their work over the past year, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex remain committed to their duty and service to the U.K. and around the world, and have offered their continued support to the organizations they have represented regardless of official role. We can all live a life of service. Service is universal," the spokesperson said, according to Elle.

The British royal family specified the military and charitable organizations of which Meghan and Harry will no longer be royal patrons on its site. For Harry, they are the Royal Marines, RAF Honington, Royal Navy Small Ships and Diving, England Rugby, and the Rugby Football League. For Meghan, the organizations are the Association of Commonwealth Universities and the National Theatre. Additionally, they will not be the president and vice president of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust.

Smart Works, a charity Markle was a patron of, also tweeted to clarify that she will continue to be a patron of theirs. They said they are "delighted" about it. "We are thankful for everything she has done in support of our clients and look forward to working together in the future," they said.

The couple has had a dramatic journey since they became engaged and then got married in 2018. Since then, they had a child, they have left their roles as senior members of the royal family, moved to America, suffered a miscarriage, set up their own foundation, signed multimillion-dollar deals with Spotify and Netflix, and got pregnant again.

Markle, who has maintained that British media companies have caused her pain, won a privacy lawsuit against one of them that published parts of a letter she wrote to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, according to NBC News. She had informed the High Court in London that media intrusion had caused her "very real sadness" and damaged relationships.

Legal documents also revealed she felt "unprotected by the institution" of the royal family when she was in the spotlight during her pregnancy with Archie. They were receiving so much hate online that since stepping down and archiving their official account, Sussex Royal, on Instagram, they haven't used social media by themselves. However, the announcement about their second child came from their photographer, Misan Harriman, on Instagram.

The former actress also opened up about her miscarriage through a New York Times opinion article in November 2020. "Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few. In the pain of our loss, my husband and I discovered that in a room of 100 women, 10 to 20 of them will have suffered from miscarriage," she wrote.

Apart from laying her heart bare in the opinion piece, she was also interviewed by Oprah Winfrey. The program will be broadcast in March 2021, and it will also include Prince Harry.

 References:

https://www.royal.uk/buckingham-palace-statement-duke-and-duchess-sussex

https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a35560978/meghan-markle-prince-harry-the-queen-one-year-review-statement/

nbcnews.com/news/world/prince-harry-meghan-will-not-return-working-members-royal-family-n1258317

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/opinion/meghan-markle-miscarriage.html

Cover image source: Getty Images |Photo by (L)Ben Stansall (R) Dominic Lipinski