Part 2
At the “Sandringham summit”, the four of them would sort out the future once and for all.
What a source described as a “practical workmanlike approach” permeated the room as the royals set out to form a deal. Harry felt as though he and Meghan had long been sidelined by the institution and were not a fundamental part of its future.
One didn’t have to look further than the family photos displayed during the Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day. In the Green Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace, where the Queen delivered her address, viewers glimpsed photos of the Cambridges and their children, Charles and Camilla, Prince Philip, and a black-and-white image of George VI. Noticeably absent was a photo of Harry, Meghan, and their new baby, Archie. Palace sources insisted that the photos were chosen to represent the direct line of succession, but for Harry and Meghan, it had been yet another sign that they needed to consider their own path.
Charles made it clear to Harry that he and Meghan were very much part of the future for the royal family despite calls for a “slimmed-down monarchy” with fewer senior working royals. “The Prince of Wales’s vision always included Harry as part of a slimmed down monarchy,” a source close to the family shared. “His vision included both his sons. William will always be more important than Harry but that’s a fact only because of birthright.”
Though William had not taken the original news of his brother’s plan well, his fate was up to the Queen, and she was very aware that the outcome of the meeting would set the standard for generations to come.
Finally, she made it clear that their quasi-royal vision would not work. “It was untenable,” a palace source said. “If Harry and Meghan had been semi-working royals, there would have had to have been oversight in everything they did in their independent sphere, a committee to approve events and deals.”
When the meeting was over, Harry immediately debriefed Sussex aides before sending a text to Meghan. That evening, the Queen put out a candid and personal statement. “My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family,” the statement read. “Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working members of the royal family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family.”
[IMG]
The official communication also announced that Harry and Meghan no longer wanted to rely on public money during the coming period of transition, during which time the couple would live in both Canada and the UK. “These are complex matters for my family to resolve, and there is some more work to be done,” the Queen stated, “but I have asked for final decisions to be reached in the coming days.”
“More work” was an understatement. Harry spent the next several days holed up in intense meetings and conference calls with top aides from all three royal households, Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, and Kensington Palace, which were led by Charles’s private secretary, Clive Alderton. William was more than happy to leave the matter up to staff. He was reported to have told a friend: “I’ve put my arm around my brother all our lives and I can’t do that anymore; we’re separate entities.”
That held true for Meghan and Kate as well. The two duchesses’ relationship had struggled to move past the distant politeness of when they first met. Their cordial but distant rapport was apparent when the pair appeared alongside each other at the King Power Royal Charity Polo Day the previous summer. While the doting mothers were photographed next to each other with their children, the two appeared to barely exchange a word.
The state of affairs between the two women was just an offshoot of the real issue at hand: the conflict between Harry and the institution. Harry likened his meetings throughout the week to standing in front of a firing squad. “There was a lot of finger pointing in both directions with things leaking,” an aide said. “It was all very unhealthy.”
When Harry described how he didn’t feel supported by his family, this was what he was referring to. They did their bit in the family meeting at Sandringham, and then they left him to defend himself against and negotiate with their aides, which is exactly what he didn’t want to happen. “He feels that there were so many occasions when the institution and his family could have helped them, stood up for them, backed them up, and never did,” a source said.
Courtiers viewed Harry’s position as completely unrealistic. While it was easy to say they wouldn’t take money from the sovereign grant, it was quite another thing to follow through. “The biggest row was over money, because it always is,” a source familiar with the negotiations said. One aide made a joke about Meghan launching a line of beauty products.
More accurately, the couple hoped to earn a living through speaking engagements, production deals, and other commercial deals that had social impact. Still, there were some difficult calculations to be made. If Harry and Meghan did some official work, they would have to figure out how much of their expenses were private rather than subject to tax relief. “They’ve created a complete headache for everyone,” an exhausted aide complained on the fifth day of meetings.
More difficult were the hurt feelings on both sides. Even sources close to Harry and Meghan had to admit that the way the couple were forced to approach the situation (mainly in the act of keeping the family and their team in the dark about their website) “created a lot of ill will in the household and especially in the family”.
“Harry and Meghan would have reached a more beneficial agreement to allow them to live the life they wanted if they had handled things in a private, dignified way,” a senior Buckingham Palace aide explained. Another courtier added: “They oversimplified what they were asking for. They thought they’d give Charles their rider, negotiate over email, rock up to London, give three months’ notice and fly back to Canada.”
Harry and Meghan, however, felt that they had been patronised by other family and staff members for too long. People had humoured them when they brought up grievances, never thinking the couple would actually do anything drastic. The explosive reaction was a direct result of their growing impatience. If other members of the family and those working with the households had taken their requests more seriously, it wouldn’t have reached that point.
Either way, the source said: “The courtiers blame Meghan, and some family do.”
The media speculated that Meghan was behind the decision for the couple to step back, but few knew how much she sacrificed to try to make it work. As Meghan tearfully told a friend in March: “I gave up my entire life for this family. I was willing to do whatever it takes. But here we are. It’s very sad.”
While the British media often blamed royal wives, in Harry’s case, he was very much on board with distancing himself from the public eye. It’s why he gravitated toward the military, had always avoided the pomp as much as he could, and didn’t give his child a title. He long craved a life away from the prying eyes of the media. Meghan simply emboldened him to make the change. She supported him no matter what. “Fundamentally, Harry wanted out,” a source close to the couple said. “Deep down, he was always struggling within that world. She’s opened the door for him on that.”
Five long days after the original meeting, the Queen issued a statement that a plan had emerged for “a constructive and supportive way forward for my grandson and his family” to take effect in the spring of 2020. This was followed by a statement from Harry and Meghan. Both outlined the terms of the deal, which stipulated that the couple would completely step back from royal duties. No longer working members of the royal family, they would not be able to use their HRH titles or the word “royal” in any of their future endeavours. Harry would lose his military honours, and his role as Commonwealth youth ambassador was also pulled.
Harry and Meghan were allowed to maintain their private patronages. Although they could no longer formally represent the Queen, they “made clear that everything they do will continue to uphold the values of Her Majesty”.
As to the issue of money, Harry and Meghan would no longer receive public funds for royal duties. The couple took it even further, stating: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have shared their wish to repay sovereign grant expenditure for the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage, which will remain their UK family home.”
[IMG]
That was £2.4 million of taxpayer money that sections of the British public were furious about when the number was confirmed in the 2018–19 sovereign grant report, released the previous July. Constant negative press coverage surrounding their renovations did little to help. It felt good to put that behind them. Offering to repay the money was a symbol of how much Harry and Meghan wanted to cut any ties. Privately, Prince Charles said he would help them financially, out of his personal money, if they needed it.
The most demoralising aspect of the deal was Harry being stripped of his honorary military appointments. “That’s been a tough pill to swallow, and one that has been most painful to Meghan witness him go through,” a source close to the couple said. “It’s the one that made Harry emotional.”
“It was so unnecessary,” Meghan later told a friend. “And it’s not just taking something away from him; it’s also that entire military veteran community. You can see how much he means to them, too. So why? The powers [of the institution] are unfortunately greater than me.”
While the hours crept closer to the couple’s final day as working royals on March 31, Harry and Meghan continued working. Commitments that had been made long before their January announcement still needed to be carried out, and for both of them, it was important not to let anyone down. Plus, they were at their best when they were busy.
While Harry spent much of his time in the UK in meetings with palace staff to tie up final details, he did make time for family. He had barely exchanged words with his brother since they had last seen each other at Sandringham, but Harry did enjoy chats on the phone with his father, whose private secretary continued to oversee the final elements of the transition. The line between family and institution was more blurred than ever, but it was perfectly clear who was playing what role when the Queen invited Harry over to lunch on March 1. Though his last time with Her Majesty had been in a more formal capacity, this time it would just be the two of them for Sunday lunch. “No titles,” an aide said. “Just granny and grandson.”
Sitting at the Queen’s dining room in her Windsor Castle apartment, it was just like the old days. While he had lost respect for parts of the institution, and even certain family members at points, the Queen was still one of the most important women in his life. As they tucked into a roast lunch, the Queen made it clear to Harry that she would always support him in whatever he decided to do. Though a 12-month trial period had already been promised to Harry earlier in the year, their conversation was also a reminder that should he and Meghan ever want to return to their roles, they were always welcome.
“It’s been made very clear they can come back whenever they want, when they’re ready,” a source involved with the negotiations said.
One of their final engagements was the Commonwealth service at Westminster Abbey. But if they ever needed confirmation that stepping away from the institution was the right move, the machinations that had preceded it served as a useful reminder. Although they had been part of the procession of senior royals who entered the church with the Queen in previous years, this year they discovered they had been removed from the line-up. The decision had been made without their consultation, and they were informed long after the 2,000 orders of service had been printed for guests, with their names notably absent. This year it would just be the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Prince of Wales, and the Duchess of Cornwall walking through the abbey with the Queen. It felt intentional. “Harry was more than disappointed,” a friend said. “He spoke up, but the damage had already been done.”
To smooth things over, the Cambridges agreed to take their seats at the same time as the Sussexes and the Earl and Countess of Wessex. But if looks were anything to go by, the Cambridges were unhappy with the decision. While Harry and Meghan both greeted William and Kate with smiles, the Cambridges showed little response. It was the first time the two couples had seen each other since January. “Harry,” William nodded, ignoring Meghan. For the minutes before the Queen’s arrival, William and Kate sat with their backs to the couple, only turning around to chat with Prince Edward and Sophie, next to the Sussexes. Although Meghan tried to make eye contact with Kate, the duchess barely acknowledged her.
While the couples had been in a slightly better place after Archie’s birth, relations fell apart again in January as the family negotiated Meghan and Harry’s new roles. William, a Kensington Palace source explained, remained upset that private family matters were made public by the couple. “It’s not anger,” the source explained. “It’s hurt.”
“It should have been the one public moment where the royal family put their arms around the couple for a show of support,” a source close to Harry and Meghan said. “They purposefully chose not to put them in the procession and not to be welcoming. It was most unpleasant.” Buckingham Palace shrugged off the procession change, saying there was “no set format”.
After the service, Meghan flew back to Canada — she had booked the first flight after the service to return to Archie. “Meg just wanted to get home,” said a friend, noting that the duchess was emotionally bruised and exhausted. “At that point she couldn’t imagine wanting to set a foot back into anything royal again.”
Lo he robado de otro sitio
pero vamos que mi conclusion es que son verdaderamente idiotas
Además es que no son ni listos, primero no duraron ni dos años en la familia real, igual hasta puedo comprar pulpo como animal de compañía y pienso que lo estaban pasando muy mal, luego se van a Canadá porque quieren una vida privada, estilo de vida que no les dura ni seis meses para luego acabar en Hollywood... todo muy disimulado eh? Que cansinos que son... cansinos pero reconozco que sus cotilleos me dan vida 
Se enfadaron porque en la misa de la foto (el último evento en el que estuvieron en marzo) Kate ni les miró y eso que Meghan la buscó con la mirada 
