Harry & Meghan stepping back from RF

Diana WAS young, and she DID flounder. Thereafter the advice she was given was skimpy in the least, so she can be excused a lot of the mistakes she made. The worst being pouring it all out on UK television, which makes me wonder why Charles and later Andrew made the same mistake.
Oh I do hope H&M don't do the same thing.

ExD1938 I was thinking the same about Princess Anne and her husbands. I can't even remember the second husband's name. She was in exactly the same position as Harry.

The Duchess of Cambridge will probably be Queen one day. Meghan will be the "spare"'s wife, so they're in different situations.

Reading some of the judgemental bile on this thread, I'm not the slightest bit surprised that she and Harry want to leave it all.

I don't think any form of 'punishment' is on the cards, there are concerns for Harry in all this.
I agree with MOnica and tickingbird They can't have their cake and eat it, Harry should stop blaming everything on the death of his mother. Sounds harsh but we all have to move on with our lives. I think its a shame H & M couldn't continue with their royal duties until such time as Prince Charles came to the throne.

Edward, Sophie and Anne carry out a lot of official duties and
charity work, they don’t act for the camera just get on with their work.

Anne didn’t step out of the limelight, she never sort it.

Diana grew up with the royals, her grandmother was lady in waiting to the queen mother, her father was equerry to the queen, no way did she flounder

They jumped before they were pushed?! They jumped because they realised that the vision they had for themselves as a global brand didn’t fit with the long term plan for the RF. They were grabby enough to think they had a window of opportunity to cash in on H’s royal status and to build that brand while there was still sufficient interest in them as royals.

Princess Anne managed because she never tried to be in it or courted it. She kept her head down and got on with life.

She also had a serious career as a national and international equestrienne. And any sport at the level she competed was a full time career, not a hobby.

they jumped before they were pushed
X posts

I see M0nica and I had the same thought.

How did Princess Anne manage to step out of the limelight so quietly and seamlessly?

The media like young and glamorous people. Princess Anne still works very hard, carrying out 506 royal duties last year.

Surely she still has some protection?
Well, she does when she is on royal duties at least.

Harry is not the only child that lost his Mother at a young age, William did too and many others; the difference is most children are not left millions of pounds to help them cope as adults. Harry still had a father and did not end up in the care system.

"Senior courtiers have warned that "Harry and Meghan will be punished for this"
They were the kinds of people who left Diana floundering when she first joined The Firm.

I do wonder if Harry and Meghan now feel that there is in fact no place for them in the future lineup of senior royals and that message has come across quite clearly this Christmas with the Christmas photos.
They jumped before they were pushed.
Often the best move in fact.

The comparisons with Edward and Wallis Simpson are pretty apt.

I am with tickingbird Nothing political about this. I think they just jumped before they were pushed.

As soon as Prince William became a father - and he now has 3 children, Prince Harry's position as back-up heir, became redundant.

As Prince Charles direct line has grown, his own brothers have retreated into the background and before the Duke of York's recent 'unpleasantness', both he and his brother, Prince Edward were being heard of less and less.

Prince Harry must have known that he had a 'sell by' date for a long time and if his wife is as media savvy as suggested, then she should have been aware that they would have a little window of being headline news when they first married and had children, but after that it would tail off. Prince George will be a teenager in lesss than a decade, then who will be interested in them?

Prince Harry and his wife have made a sensible decision to make their retirement from public life voluntary, stepping down before they got made redundant. But I think it is an illusion for them to think that, as a result, they can be royal and not-royal at the same time.

They are either royal and buckle down to the job, or not royal and go on their way rejoicing and without taking any money from the British tax-payer. If they choose the latter they should give up the big house at Windsor that they will rarely occupy because their settled life is elsewhere and either buy their own flat in London, stay in a hotel or do what most people do when visiting family and occupy a bedroom at the in-laws house.

How did Princess Anne manage to step out of the limelight so quietly and seamlessly?
Surely she still has some protection? Where does her funding come from? OK I know she's still one of the privileged few with a lifestyle that is rich beyond most of our imaginings, but she's been a real asset and worked very hard to earn our respect.
Why can't Harry and Meghan so likewise?

GrannySquare ??Exactly, there are far too many false shrieks of racism.
Kate has got on with the job of being a royal wife and Meghan has not, as simple as that.
Also, they may (Harry and Meghan) be much the same age as our own children, but really, that doesn’t make them young
As in ‘give thus poor (rich) young couple a break!’
They are approaching middle age and time to act to like it perhaps.

Here's another photo
it all started so well

I think it would be nice to support the girls that way. They didnt chose their father. And agree they have never missbehaved. They have stayed loyal even though they have not been paid.

I think they would do a good job!

Exactly notanan - and you do it with the complete backing and support of your family, so that when a small announcement is made it's made clear that everyone is in agreement and a plan has been put in place for the future.

As Harry and Meghan no longer want to be 'Senior Royals' they should not expect the public to pay for their protection. That is a perk reserved for Senior Royals. Bea and Eugenie's parents pay for their body guards. Harry and Meghan should do the same. I do hope Charles stops pay rolling them as if they are not doing public duties they won't need the public wardrobe or expensive travel. I hope the Queen takes away the Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles from them but allows Harry to keep Price he was born to. That would put a stop to brand 'Sussex Royal' which would be taking income form a role they no longer serve. If they want to live in Canada they should be allowed to do so with no press intrusion. The thing is they can't keep all the perks without giving service in return. Now we have Andrew, Harry and Meghan stepping back I hope the Queen allows Princess' Beatice and Eugenie to do some paid work. I like those girls and they have always appeared discreet and never caused public embarrassment for the Queen. They do the odd charity appearance and don't get paid anything from public purse yet always have a smile of their faces. When the press made fun of Bea's horrible hat she didn't throw a tantrum but instead in good humour she raffled it for charity. At the time she said well someone might like it and it made me chuckle. Comapare that to the tantrum thrown by Meghan and Harry when Meghan didn't get the tiara she wanted.

The way to slip out of the public eye is not to make a big public statement about it.

They way to do it is to make yourself at least publically boring.

It's akin to modern day Salem witch trials
Well now you just sound like you dont know your history. Name one way it has any similarities with the salem trials?

They work for us (still)
We are allowed to say if theyre doing a good or a terrible job
We are allowed to point out that this faux abdicating with burnt bridges (when there was nothing stopping them from simply stepping down) can only be designed to make us look bad stateside where some dont understand that A. Theyre minors B. Theyre jumping not being pushed and C. Dropping official duties didnt have to be a big drama. Its not unusual for minors to not be working royals

^’a proper [or possibly real] English rose".

The inclusion of the word "proper" says quite a lot. ’^

Yes, it does.
The word ‘proper’ is used to describe behaviour, e.g. behaving properly, or being authentic.

Describing someone as a proper English rose does not refer to their race or makes generalisations about any racial stereotypes.

Another good post from SirChenjin, re the press and Catherine/Meghan.
Absolute rubbish from Greeneyedgirl.

I am amazed that there are people feeling sorry for them
Meghan is transparent that is why we can post our views on her.
She may be able to bedazzle people closer to her but from a distance she is actually easy to read.
now we know that the amount of planning that went on so soon after the marriage she never had any intention of sticking with the RF....It serves her well that there was any criticism because that is how she manipulates Harry "poor me" "this is what happened to your mother"
He wants to save her as he couldn't save his mother. It is classic.
I am glad they are going but I don't want them to do so with the money from the UK

After all the whinging both of them could do with a bit of reality.
It angers me that they enjoy such privilege and still complain.
This country and most of the world are full of people really struggling.
No decent homes, not enough food, terrible work conditions.
And then those two never happy.
It is too much that they pretend to care about improving the world.
We are not that stupid, Harry wake up.

Tickingbird, an excellent post, absolutely on the mark.

SirChenjin wrote

‘When they stop taking any money from the Duchy, the Sovereign list, and any other sources they might have, when they stop using the Royal title to generate wealth when they appear to loathe the Royal institution, when they start paying for their own security, when they pay back the cost of renovating Frogmore Cottage........’

SirChenjin has got it in one. No one minds at all if Harry and Meghan want to go it alone, if they want to be private individuals, and bring up their child quietly and away from all the paraphernalia of the Royals, BUT if that is what they want, let them do it without a single penny of the taxation paid by the British people.