Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have maintained their Royal connections despite stepping back as senior Royals in January 2020. They’ve kept their titles, which allows their offspring to be styled as Prince and Princess, and they continue with ‘semi-royal’ engagements.
However, since the passing of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, Meghan has not joined Harry on his UK visits. Yet, a leading Royal commentator believes that the Duchess’s Royal ties are far from severed.
“If Meghan is encouraging Harry to leave the past behind and move on, then I think it is a healthy move. They have made their decision, left the working Royal Family and left the UK,” Jennie Bond, the veteran former BBC Royal correspondent, shared with OK!
“Brooding on the perceived injustices of the past and reliving old quarrels is a waste of a life, and I think Meghan sees that.”
Meghan recognises Harry’s need to keep his UK connections, but for her, distancing from the Royal role is simpler, given her brief official tenure.
“On the other hand, she doesn’t have an entire and complex history of life in the confines of the royal family to worry about,” Jennie noted. “It’s easy for her to look forward, ensconced as she is in a country and lifestyle she is so used to and clearly loves.”
“But Harry has said he wants to be reunited with his family so he is obviously going to think about what has happened and how they have come to this state of affairs. And that’s probably quite frustrating for Meghan… who seems to be at ease with estrangement from her own family.”
As Prince Harry approaches his 40th birthday on 15 September, he has just concluded a ‘semi-royal’ tour of Colombia – a move experts are praising as perfect for maintaining ties with his service-oriented upbringing.
As Harry attempts to blend his former Royal life with his new Californian chapter, Jennie offers her perspective on why Meghan maintains only minimal connections to her brief tenure as a working Royal.
“I don’t think Harry spends all his time looking back, but the Harry I knew as a young boy was someone who enjoyed fooling around with his family and having fun with them,” Jennie muses.
“In his book Spare he writes about his fond memories of some of those family gatherings and it’s only natural that he now misses that connection and perhaps is still considering ways of repairing the damage done in recent years.
“Meghan, however, has I think consigned her brief dalliance at being royal very firmly to the past… except for the title and the kudos it brings.”
