Harry & Meghan Announce Plans To 'Step Back As Senior Members Of The Royal Family'

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced that they are resigning from royal duty

In a somewhat shocking move, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, aka the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have just announced that they are stepping back from their royal duties to live half the year in North America.

“We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen,” the couple said in an official statement on Wednesday, January 8, 2020.

“We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honor our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages,” they added.

The couple said their decision is in line with their plan to “carve out a progressive new role within this institution,” and the decision to move to North America, most likely Canada — which is still part of the Commonwealth — was made specifically with their son Archie in mind.

“This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.”

We’re especially intrigued by the notion of becoming “financially independent” because the couple’s lives are partly financed by the taxpayers of Britain, and perhaps they’ll take up jobs when they launch their forthcoming “charitable entity,” but what it all boils down to is that Meghan and Harry are essentially “resigning” from the Royal Family.

Back when Meghan was on Suits, she lived in Vancouver, Canada and then over the Christmas break, the couple was spotted hiking in Canada with their dog and Meghan’s Suits co-star Abigail Spencer, so if you ask us, it sounds like Meghan and Harry got a taste of what it would be like to be regular people who go on weekend hikes with their dog and realized it’s pretty nice.

If we’re being honest, we’re not shocked by this news at all. Just a few months ago, Meghan nearly broke down in an ITV Interview about how hard new motherhood has been and how she didn’t anticipate how hard royal life would be along with the stresses of becoming a parent.

Speaking specifically about the tabloids and paparazzi and how they’ve hounded her since joining the Royal Family, Meghan told ITV News that “it’s hard,” while adding that she didn’t expect the pressure to be as great as it is. “I don’t think anybody could understand that, but in all fairness, I had no idea, which probably sounds difficult to understand…”

The Queen, for her part, released a statement that suggests she’s maybe a little bit shocked:

But this feels like a long time coming, but according to the couple’s statement, they feel supported by the people of Britain to make this big move.

“It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment,” the statement said.