'Five years after becoming private citizens, Harry and Meghan's situation is one no-one could have seen coming'
By Natalie Oliveri|
OPINION: Five years ago today – April 1, 2020 – Prince Harry and Meghan began their new lives away from the British royal family as private citizens after making the historic decision to "step back", a move they said was made "after many months of reflection and internal discussions".
The announcement was made three months before on January 8 and after a series of rushed meetings, including the infamous 'Sandringham Summit' with Queen Elizabeth II, then-Prince Charles and Prince William, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex carried out a final string of official engagements with the royal family and said goodbye to the UK.
From March 31, 2020, they stopped using their HRH titles, Prince Harry lost his military titles and he and Meghan most of their patronages, and public money was cut off.
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They were also banned from using the word "royal" in any branding relating to their commercial endeavours and their hugely popular Instagram account, SussexRoyal, shut down.
Most importantly, Prince Harry and Meghan were no longer able to formally represent the royal family.
At the time of the Sussexes' announcement, Prince Harry and Meghan said they were unhappy with the level of media intrusion into their lives and frustrated about not being able to develop their brand.
They were given a one-year transition period by the late monarch, during which they paid back the £2.4m (approx. $4 million) of taxpayer money used to refurbish their home, Frogmore Cottage, which had been their official residence in the UK.
And then on February 21, 2021, Buckingham Palace said Prince Harry and Meghan would not return as working members of the royal family.
In response, the couple said "service is universal" and offered to continue supporting the organisations they had represented.
"Establishing their new lives in the United States hasn't been as smooth – or commercially successful – as they had hoped"
The blows continued two years later when in 2023, King Charles asked Prince Harry and Meghan to vacate Frogmore Cottage, on the Windsor estate.
In the years since, Prince Harry has returned to London for various court cases against newspaper publishers and in September 2022, he and Meghan were already in the UK for a number of public appearances when Queen Elizabeth II died.
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The duchess did not join her husband at the coronation of King Charles in May, 2023.
In the five years since Prince Harry and Meghan embarked on a new chapter with the aim of becoming "financially independent", establishing their new lives in the United States hasn't been as smooth – or commercially successful – as they had hoped.
This week, Meghan's lifestyle endeavour As ever will finally begin selling products after undergoing a name change and rebrand following a series of setbacks and copyright issues.
In a message to those who've subscribed to updates, the duchess said she was "so excited" for the week ahead, adding, "I hope when you see what I've worked so hard to create you're encouraged to know that whatever life brings, you can do it too".
"Someone once told me the biggest risk you can take is deciding not to take one at all," Meghan said.
The sale of As ever products, including fruit spreads, shortbread mix, edible flower petals, tea and honey, came just under a month after the premiere of the duchess' eight-part series on Netflix, titled With Love, Meghan
The show was the latest commercial venture by the couple and Netflix, under a deal thought to be worth millions of dollars with the Sussexes' media company, Archewell Productions.
Polo, which was broadcast in December 2024, didn't make waves as hoped and barely featured Prince Harry and Meghan despite their involvement.
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Heart of Invictus, which detailed Prince Harry's involvement with the military community following his own two tours of duty in Afghanistan, wasn't as popular as hoped.
Prince Harry and Meghan's most successful foray into the media landscape came in December, 2022, with the airing of Harry & Meghan – a docu-series which focused on their love story but also reignited a fresh public squabble with the royal family, one not seen on such a scale since their interview with Oprah Winfrey months after moving to the US.
The show quickly became the streaming giant's second-highest ranked documentary ever.
A month later, in January 2023, Prince Harry's memoir Spare was published after being delayed due to the death of his grandmother.
It became became the fastest-selling non-fiction book in the UK since records began in 1998.
The book contained a number of damaging claims about the royal familyPrince Harry alleged he was physically attacked by his brother, and said he had pondered whether Camilla would one day be his "wicked stepmother", claiming he and Prince William had urged their father not to marry her.
Harry also claimed William and Catherine laughed when Harry returned home dressed in a Nazi uniform before a fancy dress party in 2005, a moment that generated worldwide scorn, and claimed Kate was cold to Meghan when the two women first met.
Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace never commented on the book.
Meghan also launched a children's book, The Bench, in 2021.
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It's not just been on our screens and shelves where the Sussexes have sought influence.
Meghan's new podcast with Lemonada Media, titled Confessions Of A Female Founder, will premiere on April 8. In the trailer released last week, Meghan said she would was "building a business of my own and getting all sorts of practical advice along the way".
It will be her first since Archetypes, which she released on Spotify in 2022 and ran for just one season with 12 episodes, and was the only offering to emerge from her and Prince Harry's $40 million Spotify deal.
Prince Harry is said to have pitched a number of podcast ideas to Spotify, including a show where he would interview controversial figures including Russian President Vladimir Putin and former US President Donald Trump about childhood trauma.
Meghan is also hoping to cash in on her fame with the launch of an online shop for fans to buy her fashion and beauty essentials, while the duchess takes a cut from the purchases made.
While Meghan's 2025 is looking promising in terms of finally achieving some commercial success post-royal life, Prince Harry has found himself in the middle a bitter public feud that's likely to have lasting ramifications on his and Meghan's brand and the children he'd vowed to be "committed [to] for the rest of my life".
The scandal involving the charity Sentebale and its chair Sophie Chandaukar has dominated headlines in the days since Prince Harry issued an extraordinary statement confirming he had resigned as patron, along with co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
They said: "What's transpired is unthinkable. We are in shock that we have to do this", adding it was "truly heartbreaking".
In response, Chandaukar called Prince Harry's brand "toxic" and claimed the way he handled his departure from Sentebale amounted to "harassment and bullying at scale".
Few causes have mattered more to Harry than this one. It was created in memory of his late mother Diana nearly 20 years ago, and helps orphaned children and young people in southern Africa living with HIV and Aids.
Among the headlines in UK media in the past few days include The Mirror, which reported Chandaukar as saying that a fundraiser was "wrecked" because Prince Harry wanted to film it for Netflix.
The Mail reported Chandaukar as saying donors had "dropped their support" because of the Prince's reputation after he quit his royal duties.
Five years on from stepping back from official duties, and that final frosty engagement with the royal family on Commonwealth Day, Prince Harry and Meghan have written an entirely new chapter for themselves in California.
They are blessed with two healthy children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, several dogs and a beautiful home.
Is it what they wanted, and hoped for?
Only they can answer those questions, but it's undeniable their current situation is one no-one could have seen coming on that day in January 2020, when they revealed their plans and left an institution where others throughout its 1200-year history have left their own, more significant, mark.
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