On Saturday, London time, the Queen announced her agreement with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle over their decision to step down as senior members of the British Royal Family.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will drop their “Royal Highness” titles and will pay back the public money from their AUD$4.5 million renovation on Frogmore Cottage.
The conclusion sought to end turmoil in the monarchy sparked earlier this month by the couple’s decision to become financially independent and split their time between North America and the United Kingdom.
Extra: It's Not You, Here's Why Clothes Don't Fit Properly
The Quicky
Top Comments
I've not been following that closely, but if Lizzie and Bazza from the local RSL fall madly in love and decide to make a break, I'm all ears
The thought of Bingo Night has set me abuzz
Someone needs to tell Piers that Harry is a free thinking individual and isn’t being manipulated, for heavens sake.
Harry was always a rebel, always, this is nothing new. Husband and wives make decisions TOGETHER. Decisions that they deem to be appropriate for them and those around them.
Yes I think Meghan might have been a bit naive about her role as a royal and the pressures around it. People’s perspectives change after you get married and have kids. That’s life.
Piers needs to stop with this obsession with Megan. It’s disturbing.
Harry's "rebelliousness" in the past manifested in some pretty crappy and self-centred decision making (dressing up as a Nazi, drunk antics in Vegas, drug use etc) which the royal family had to salvage. It's interesting to see a potential salvage strategy is built into this most recent agreement, for when this act of "rebellion" by the royal manchild goes belly-up.
It's been fairly obvious for *years* that Harry wasn't happy being part of the royals, it seems more that he's found someone who will support him in his desire to leave. But that interpretation isn't nearly as juicy, is it. And frankly, I'm not sure why everyone is so mad that he wants to leave. Barring some sort of massive catastrophe, he's never going to be king, so why make him hang around and have every move he (and his family) makes scrutinised and criticised by the press and the public? Perhaps they may have jumped the gun a little in the way they announced it, but clearly this hasn't come totally out of the blue. And poor Piers should probably see a therapist or something, he's getting incredibly upset about something that really has nothing much to do with him.
It's not really been that "fairly obvious". Harry has complained a lot about the restrictions and intrusion into his life that being a royal brought, but at the same time, he's also been very happy to accept and exploit the tremendous privilege his birthright has afforded him, too. His family has bailed him out of more than one public relations nightmare in the past - let's not forget that at the end of the day, Harry is a rich, privileged chap who has been able to live with relative impunity. Without being a part of the royals, he'd not have that privilege (and a wealth of personal opportunities) in the first place.
But they are not really leaving the Royal Family at all. Had they given up their titles, including Sussex, eschewed their royal protection officers and became plain Mr and Mrs Markle-Windsor (or whatever) that would be different and very admirable. But they are not. They are dumping boring old royal engagements for a life trading off the Sussex Royal logo.