Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Had Discussed Plans to Step Back with the Queen and Senior Royals
As the duchess returns to Canada, sources tell BAZAAR.com why the Sussexes forged ahead with plans to step away from their senior royal roles—and how the royal family are helping realize them.
BY OMID SCOBIE JAN 9 2020, 4:12 PM EST
Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s 195-word statement announcing plans to step back from their senior roles may have come as a surprise to members of the royal family, including the queen, but the news itself? Not so much, sources tell BAZAAR.com.
Senior aides reveal that conversations about the couple’s future plans and ambitions had taken place internally “on all levels” for several months in the run-up to their so-called “bombshell” on January 8. It was information that the couple had planned to hold back from the media until logistics had been further fleshed out among households, but after their agenda was leaked to British tabloid The Sun, “they felt they had been cornered,” says a source close to the couple. “It was a case of act now or lose control of something they had spent a long time working on.
Surprised, yes, but the royal reaction, says a high-ranking palace aide, was “far from the dramatic emotional response described by some—nobody was ‘incandescent with rage’ and nobody is about to punish anyone. The speed at which this now needs to be dealt with is not ideal, but the plans themselves are not a problem. This is not a ‘crisis,’ it’s a case of helping the couple reach their goal.”
That goal, or a version of it, is now expected to be achieved within a matter of days, a Buckingham Palace official confirms. The queen, Prince Charles, and Prince William made calls on Thursday to direct their teams to liaise with governments and the Sussex household to find workable solutions—fast. Conversations, which included Prince Harry, took place throughout the day.
No change of requests for the duke; the couple’s vision remains ambitious but achievable: create a new working model that allows them to blend a balanced mix of official duties in the name of the queen and their own independently funded philanthropic interests, which will be anchored by the forthcoming Sussex Royal foundation. This financial independence, which includes no longer taking from the government-funded Sovereign Grant, will allow the couple to choose charitable projects more freely and, says a source, “work at an uninterrupted pace that present conditions don’t allow.”
One change the couple have been keen to tackle is finally taking control of the coverage surrounding their work, which is currently ruled by the self-governed Royal Rota—a pool system that allows only British newspapers and tabloids to gain up-close access to their official engagements (other outlets are forced to remain in the dark). “The Cartel,” as the couple have come to know the group of royal correspondents, have been a longtime sticking point for the couple. “They saw the current model as outdated and in desperate need of change,” says a source, who notes that previous attempts to change the current system had been repeatedly met with dead ends. “It became clear that press, including foreign media and digital outlets, to have access to their work, they would have to self-fund their own engagements.”
It’s these ideas—“a phased approach,” says a spokesperson—and more that the couple began carefully putting together at the start of fall last year. Tying a bow on their proposition is SussexRoyal.com, their official website that currently serves as a detailed explainer of their future roles. Put together away from the palace, the site was written by an individual known to the couple and designed by Made by Article, the same Toronto-based company that successfully produced Meghan’s now-shuttered lifestyle blog The Tig.
“Very few people were involved in the process, but those who were managed to keep information of the site confidential,” says the Sussex source. The online hub has already received millions of visits since its launch and the couple have also been inundated with supportive messages from charities and organizations they have worked as well as close friends around the world.
This evening, Meghan is expected to make her return to Canada, where son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor has been under the careful watch of close friend Jessica Mulroney and a nanny. Harry will follow shortly. “They’re feeling confident,” says a friend. “Harry and Meghan are aware that they’ll be criticized, perhaps even vilified, for taking control of their lives but creating a positive future for themselves and their family has always been their priority.”