All The Signs We Missed That Harry And Meghan Were Planning To Quit Royal Life

Even us commoners know that you don’t just wake up one day and announce that you’re leaving the Royal Family. As they said themselves, Harry and Meghan’s momentous declaration came at the end of ‘months’ of discussions. So the big question is: how did we manage to miss so many signs that this schism was on the way?

Wedding

The royal wedding was an early sign that the couple were planning to do things their own way - though presumably not to quite the extent they’ve arrived at. Rather than a more staid clerical figure, they were married by the charismatic bishop Michael Curry, who delighted viewers but seemed to leave some senior royals a little bemused.

Pregnancy

In May 2019, Meghan’s decision to give birth at the Portland rather than the Lindo Wing was heralded as a rejection of tradition, despite the fact that more royal women have given birth at home than in hospital, and only Kate and Diana chose the Lindo Wing. She also came under fire for not doing the traditional post-birth photo call, and veiling the birth in 'secrecy' (aka not broadcasting her due date).

Instagram

The royals have embraced the 21st century by joining Twitter and Instagram, but previously there had been one royal account which shared news of Prince William and Prince Harry, as well as their kids. In April, SussexRoyal was launched, meaning that the Sussex family were able to share their news on their own channel, another step away from the foursome with the Cambridges.

It was the Instagram account where they chose to share the details of their formal movement away from the Royal Family.

Archie Mountbatten-Windsor

One of the most major steps away from the Monarchy that the couple made was deciding that their son would be named just plain Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, not Prince. They had the option to give him the title of Earl of Dunbarton, but again chose not to, instead giving him a titleless name, apparently to enable him to have a more normal life.

When it came time to christen Archie, there was much drama about the levels of access and information that Harry and Meghan were willing to share. The identity of his godparents was kept secret, and they opted for a private christening. This frustrated many royal fans who felt entitled to more access, as the couple were bankrolled by the UK tax payer.

Vogue

In September 2019 much was made of Meghan’s guest editing of British Vogue, despite the fact that Prince Charles had previously guest edited Country Life and Kate had done the same with the Huffington Post. However her choice to feature highly political figures such as Greta Thunberg and Jane Fonda meant that she was accused of transgressing against the tradition of royal political neutrality.

Charity work

When Meghan married Harry, the idea was that the four of them would work on one charitable foundation - something which we had already seen start to happen. However in June 2019 it was announced that the Sussex and Cambridge factions would be splitting and running their own separate charities, adding fuel to the rumours of a fall-out between the brothers.

The announcement earlier this week cited a desire to work internationally as part of the reason for the move, so this probably should have been a massive clue that they were on the way out.

Copyright

Back in the June 2019 (around the same time that they split from the Cambridges for charity work), Harbottle and Lewis who are the Royal Family’s usual lawyers, though not the same ones used to sue the Mail on Sunday, filed copyright claims for Sussex Royal. The trademark was filed in a massive range of capacities including clothing, stationery and charities. This wasn’t quite such a massive step as it might sound, as it’s commonplace for people with well known brands to trademark them. Just ask Kylie Jenner.

Legal action

In October 2019, a statement from Prince Harry appeared on SussexRoyal.com (which was, at the time, a single page), which explained that Meghan was suing the Mail on Sunday for publishing and ‘misrepresenting’ a letter that she had written to her father, Thomas Markle. It concluded: ‘Though this action may not be the safe one, it is the right one. Because my deepest fear is history repeating itself. I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.’

This was a landmark moment for the Royal Family. Also notably the Sussexes hired Schillings, rather than Harbottle and Lewis who are traditionally the family’s lawyers, prompting questions about whether the Queen had expressed discomfort with the legal action.

Christmas

It’s not unusual for members of the Royal Family to spend Christmas away from the Queen, but much was made of the fact that Meghan and Harry went to North America for their first Christmas with baby Archie. Notably they took a period of six weeks away from the UK which was billed as a break from work, but now seems like it could have been a cooling off period while they considered their options.

Looking at all of the pieces of the jigsaw put together, it's hard to understand how we missed the big read arrows pointing at 'we're going off on our own BYE'.

It’s unclear what will happen next, as no royal sibling has ever handed in their notice. Statements from the palace suggest that how things will work is still very much under discussion. We will, of course, keep you posted.