The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced plans to step back from their roles as senior members of Britain’s royal family and spend more time in North America.
Prince Harry and Meghan announced in a statement on Wednesday also posted on Instagram that they hoped the move would allow them achieve financial independence and set up a charity, while continuing some royal duties.
Harry is Queen Elizabeth’s grandson and sixth in line to the British throne.
“We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth and our patronages,” the couple said in the statement.
Buckingham Palace also said in a statement that it was ‘disappointed’ at the decision, adding that talks are still at an early stage.
The couple married in May 2018 in a lavish ceremony in Windsor Castle, and last year Meghan gave birth to their first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, who did not receive a royal title.
Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, have not had it easy dealing with media attention. In 2016, before they were married, Harry criticised the media for intruding into Meghan’s private life, saying the press had subjected her to “a wave of abuse and harassment”.
Meghan, last October, filed legal proceedings against the Mail on Sunday newspaper over the publication of a private letter.
Harry described the treatment of his wife as “bullying”, likening it to that his mother Princess Diana suffered before her death in a Paris car accident in 1997 when her limousine crashed as it sped away from chasing paparazzi.
Criticism that followed £2.4 million taxpayer money used to renovate their new home will increase as they now plan to relocate.
It was not immediately clear how Harry and Meghan would achieve financial independence, although last year it was reported that Harry would be executive producer of a documentary on mental health with Oprah Winfrey, for Apple’s video streaming service.
