The ‘Megxit’ saga is far from over folks. Since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex very literally rocked the country, the royal family and the British press by announcing that they would be stepping back as senior members of the royal family, the UK has been alive with debate. So far, questions have been raised about racism in the UK, the future of the royal family (especially in relation to generational divides), the impact of the press and divides within the family. The latest? What the future has in store for baby Archie, and especially his place within the extended Windsor clan.
Concerns have been raised after reports that Archie – who was born in May 2019 – has only met his cousins, the Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte, 'a handful of times'. Whilst royal expert Katie Nicoll has chalked it up to “the Sussexes being in Windsor, the Cambridges being in London,” others have noted that Archie has yet to be in the UK this year, having spent Christmas in Canada with his parents after they moved there in November 2019 and missing the royal family’s Christmas gathering at Sandringham.
It has also been reported that the Queen is reported to be “very sad” that she and other members of the royal family have seen little of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son Archie since his birth eight months ago. A source who knows the Queen told The Sunday Times: “She will be very sad to have barely seen Archie, and that he will miss out on growing up with his cousins and wider family.”
In a very different tone, a statement was released by the palace on Saturday 18 January wherein the Queen noted that Harry, Meghan and Archie would ‘always be much loved members of my family’. The statement also announced that Harry and Meghan will no longer have their royal HRH titles and will pay back public money.
‘I recognise the challenges they have experienced as a result of intense scrutiny over the last two years and support their wish for a more independent life,’ the statement continued. ‘I want to thank them for all their dedicated work across this country, the Commonwealth and beyond, and am particularly proud of how Meghan has so quickly become one of the family. It is my whole family's hope that today's agreement allows them to start building a happy and peaceful new life.’
Many of the Sussexes’ supporters have observed that Harry and Meghan’s decision to keep baby Archie separate and levels of access and information to a minimum is nothing new. In fact, it follows a pattern, one that they set a precedent with at his christening; they opted for a private ceremony and kept the identity of his godparents a secret. Up until now that is – The Sunday Times have also revealed that Harry and Meghan chose two Britons who had a big hand in raising Harry and William, Tiggy Pettifer, Harry and William's former nanny, and Mark Dyer, a former equerry to the Prince of Wales.
This fierce level of protection is undoubtedly a move by Harry and Meghan to shield Archie from the very public way Harry grew up. Without a royal HRH title of his own (Harry and Meghan refused the option to name Archie the Earl of Dumbarton), Archie – full name Archie Mountbatten-Windsor – will likely grow up with a level of privacy that his royal cousins will not enjoy.
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