I really can't answer why William jumped into my mind - he just did.

 

Since they didn’t come right out and say, your gut feeling might be right. At any rate it’s just sad, isn’t it? No one knows what the future will bring but I hope Harry, Meghan and family will be just fine. At this point they look strong and united with ample opportunities to make a success of their lives on their own terms and good for them!

 

It is extremely sad all the way around. At the end of the day we all deserve to be happy, and maybe Harry and Meghan have found that.

 

I don't understand Meghan. She's a mother, she should be looking out for her children, and by buckling to the pressure she's deprived them of an upbringing that an infinitesimal number of people in the world will ever have the chance to experience. How could she take that away from them?

 

The problem, if I understood it, was that the “firm” wasn’t going to give Archie a title which meant no security detail for him. As a woman maligned in the British tabloids and with racist undertones even within the family she didn’t feel her son would be safe...nor her husband when they stepped away as senior members of the family. Why subject her son, and now her forthcoming daughter to being second class citizens in their own country and family? The little girl when born will automatically be an American citizen. So she was looking out for her children.

They have enough money and prestige here in this country to make a good life for themselves on their own terms. Besides, at some time in the future a reconciliation between the brothers may occur.

 

As I understand it, if/when Charles becomes king then Archie would become a prince. I'm not sure how security would work since his parents have stepped down as Sr. Royals, but if they had stayed I believe he would have then been afforded security. I think.

"In Harry's case, the Queen didn't change the rules again to allow his children to be referred to as His or Her Royal Highness and a prince or princess. Since Archie is not the descendant of a direct heir to the throne, he therefore does not inherit a title, according to the 1917 patent."

 

.That's true, as I've since read, but here's the fly in the ointment. From a politico article:

Under existing convention, Archie could be named a prince should his grandfather, Prince Charles, ascend the throne, since children and male-line grandchildren of the king or queen receive the title of prince or princess. But Queen Elizabeth II made exceptions for Prince William's offspring, announcing years ago that they would all be princes and princesses..

It must have been the assumption that if one grandson's children would be named such why not their child as well? If the queen did it for one she could have done it for the other to prevent any semblance of favoritism.

However from the same article:

Several other members of the royal family do not have titles, according to People, although the queen has reportedly offered to extend titles to some of them. For example, the children of Princess Anne, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, are grandchildren of the queen who don’t have royal titles.

So were Harry and Meghan being overly sensitive to a perceive snub?

OR

was it indeed the security detail that comes with the title? According to Meghan:

If Archie was not provided a title and the royal protection that goes with, Harry and Meghan would have been stuck in a catch-22—unable to earn an income because they were senior royals, but forced to pay for their son’s protection anyway. Knowing that it was possible to change the rules so that Archie could be styled as a prince from birth, Harry and Meghan seemed to take the debate as one more way in which their family was not being welcomed into the royal fold. “There was a lot of fear surrounding it,” Meghan told Oprah. “I was very scared of having to offer up our baby knowing that they weren’t going to be kept safe.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/03/meghan-markle-archies-title-explained

Who knows what the hell was going on there. It almost sounds as if Harry didn't give Meghan all the facts before he brought her into the family or that a lot of assumptions were made that didn't come to fruition.

Nothing is set in stone however. Situations could always change down the line.

 

I'm going to be honest, I find the entire situation confusing. There have been several things that Meghan said that are contested. Such as she and Harry marrying three days before the royal wedding. The Church of England says no, and if that did happen it could throw their marriage into question.

Also, Meghan leaves me wondering big time. She seems to have a tendency to leave relationships in tatters when they have outlived their usefulness to her. I wonder if perhaps she had higher expectations that did not pan out and so she did what she has done in the past - left people in the dust. However, now they really do need the money for security so now they have to go public in order to earn that money. And yes, I do know they did not accept any money for this particular interview.

I also question their stance when they stepped down - that they wanted more privacy. Yet they have made sure to get themselves out in front of the press as much as possible.

Too many contradictions in this situation. I don't know that the public would be able to untangle this mess because we just do not have all of the info. In my experience, there are three sides to every story. Yours. Mine. And then the truth, which is normally somewhere in the middle.

 

She shouldn't have stepped away from the royal family in the first place, then. Do you really believe the British government would protect Harry and Meghan but just turn their backs when someone was threatening their son? I doubt it. I see Meghan as being very selfish. She wanted the glamour of being a royal but didn't want the downside. Well, you don't just get the parts you want, you get everything. She should have toughed it out, IMO, rather than having her husband lose his status and their children lose theirs - and their connection to their cousins, some of the only people in the world who could understand what they were going through.

I feel like she was unhappy and so ripped a big hole in their family's life - and did so publicly. That's just bad.

 

Here’s what I read in Showbiz Cheat Sheet:

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey has shaken the royal family institution. One of the biggest shocks was the reveal that Harry, Meghan, and Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor were denied security by the family when they moved to the United States.

The threats to their lives didn’t dissipate when they left the United Kingdom, so why would their family let them go unprotected, even if they weren’t senior royals anymore? A royal expert shared their insight on why they think the decision made sense, even if harsh.

When they moved to Canada with Archie, their security went with them. Negotiations about their future in the royal family were still ongoing at this time. Eventually, “the firm” decided to cut Harry off financially. This also meant losing his patronages, honorary military titles, and his family’s security detail—a decision he said was relayed at “short notice.”


Senior members of the royal family receive 24/7 protection. Harry has been receiving that security his entire life, as have the other senior royals and their spouses and children. Less senior royal family members, like Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, grew up with security, but they now pay for their own.

The Royal and VIP Executive Committee (RAVEC) provides all of the royal family’s security detail. It is part of the U.K. police force and is paid for entirely in U.K. taxpayer money. According to the Evening Standard, it costs about $138.8 million a year, or £100 million.

Royal expert Victoria Arbiter told Vox that when it comes to royal protocol, Meghan, Harry, and Archie being denied security makes sense.

“They were living in Canada as private individuals,” she said. “They then moved to the United States. They couldn’t justify to the British taxpayers why they were still having taxpayer-funded security, even though they were living in another country and they were no longer senior working members of the royal family.”

As Arbiter continued:

Now, Harry was right that the threat assessment risk hadn’t dropped. He was just as much a target as he was before, but the royal family answers to the British public, and the British public needs to know that they’re getting value for their money. If they found out that their taxpayer funds were going to protect two private individuals living 6,000 miles away, there would have been an outcry. So that’s why Harry and Meghan lost their taxpayer-funded security.

This highlights a fundamental flaw within the royal family institution. While it’s understandable not to expect British taxpayers to continue paying for the couple’s safety in the U.S., the royals themselves could have figured out a way to help their family members instead of making them feel like they were up sh*t’s creek without a paddle. Charles even stopped taking Harry’s calls around this time.

They left them to figure it out on their own. And figure it out, they did. Meghan and Harry are now paying for their own security. At first, they were living off of the money Princess Diana left Harry in her will. They now make money through lucrative deals with Netflix and Spotify.


Now that answered a lot of my questions. As to why “famous”people need to air their dirty family laundry in public though is another story.
I can’t say whether or not Meghan was being selfish but if she couldn’t adjust, she couldn’t adjust. Harry loves his wife and wanted to see her happy. He made a big sacrifice for his family’s sake so I hope Meghan really appreciates all he gave up for her.

 

I see the both of them just being in love.

 

And Piers Morgan is a complete asshole.

 

I have to wonder though - didn't they realize this would happen when they stepped down as senior royals? Surely they knew Beatrice and Eugenie fund their own security and that would be their fate as well? I wonder if that part would have been covered in their negotiations when they decided to step down?

I agree that Harry loves Meghan. This is why I hope they find their way to happiness. We all deserve that. I would however be greatly disappointed to find out they could bring down people out of their own selfishness.

 

In the article I cited above, it said negotiations were still ongoing when the couple moved to a Canada. What that reinforces for me is that you have all the conditions and provisions locked into your separation contract before you leave your job.

I also think they felt they occupied a special place within the firm and that exceptions would be made in their case. Unfortunately that didn’t turn out to be so.

The accusations of racism are probably most damaging at this moment in time for the monarchy but it won’t bring it down. While the People of the UK spend much to maintain their royals, it is they who are a mega source of economic gain for the country via tourism and the like. Their interest in and/or patronage of any non-profit they choose to support is no doubt a lucrative advantage. Unlike in any other country in the world, they represent a by gone era which non the less continues to hold fascination for millions today. While certain members might be sidelined for bad behavior, they are not politicians that can be voted out but are born into their titles and roles. If they abdicate for some reason, they still are members of the family. Look at us discussing this like we’re effected by this whole brouhaha in some way....but hey, we love the royals too, lol

 

This is the thing that bothered me most. Archie is a beautiful, innocent child. If this in fact is true, it is completely unacceptable and whoever made the remark should be so ashamed of themselves.

 

It's a situation with overlapping roles, as their family is also their "business". If you or I quit our jobs, would we expect our former company to keep paying our life and health insurances, etc.? Of course not. Once you left their employment they weren't going to pay for your benefits anymore, that's just obvious. Same thing here. On the "their family should have paid"... why? He's just renounced them and being a member of them. Why would they go and pay for him and his family after that?

I do get that if she couldn't adjust, she couldn't, BUT, I just wonder if she REALLY put in all the effort she could have before pulling the plug. I also agree that Harry really loves her and his family.

 

I don't think it's really racism. It's like she moved to her husband's small town. She's an outsider and no one trusted her, all had stories and history she wasn't a part of, etc. She felt excluded and to some degree probably was, but that was because she IS an outsider, not because of race. Of course if she had a racial chip on her shoulder she'd then latch on to anything anyone said and try and make everything seem like it was based on race -- but I really doubt it was. It seems much more likely she just didn't fit in (which is understandable) and didn't want to give it the 20 years effort before she did.

 

Well... she didn't say exactly what was said or how it was said, so I'll pass on making judgements here.

A friend of mine is Japanese and her husband is white. When she was pregnant we all talked a LOT about what her child would look like, whose eyes he'd get, hair, skin, etc., just all sorts of fun and anxiety-ridden stuff. It might have been the same thing here, people were just talking and wondering but she was already primed to look for the negative and took it that way. Without hearing what really was said and how it was said, who knows?

 

I don’t think life and health insurance were the issue. Security is.
Even out going US presidents are provided security once they leave office. They didn’t quit the family, only their roles as working senior royals. Things escalated as it sometimes can within families.

However, I read Harry was left 11 million in a trust by his mother which increased to 18 million when he turned 30 as a result of interest on investments of the original sum. They’ve since signed some lucrative deals which additionally earned them more millions. I think we’re talking about hurt feelings here cause they can more than pay for their own security now although Harry probably didn’t want to dip into that little nest egg Diana left him when they first departed. Thankfully they have friends with deep pockets and good hearts. As we know, Tyler Perry not only gave them the use of one of his homes but also his personal security upon arriving in the states until they got themselves sorted.

As far as this so called rift, Harry made it clear that he was trying to repair the damage with his father and hopefully his brother.
It may take some time but he says they both get on famously with the Queen and Prince Phillip so there’s that.

 

We won’t know if it was truly racism or not. The conversation about Archie was had with Harry who relayed it to his wife. He took it to be so apparently and didn’t disavow his wife of that notion if it was only curious musing.

Of course she didn’t fit in. She’s American, a divorced actress and a commoner who was able to connect with the public when she was fulfilling her royal duties. Not to mention the woman is gorgeous with impeccable style. Whether that didn’t sit well with some in the institution or even the Firm we won’t know but the UK press ragged on her mercilessly. Who wants to wait 20 years for them to come around?