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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Demoted on Royal Website, Bios Combined and Trimmed
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s reality of no long being working members of the British royal family was recognized in a big way, when the website featuring biographies for the family members saw their presence drastically reduced on Monday, March 18, four years after stepping down from their roles.
Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42, previously each had lengthy biography pages devoted to them along with an elegant photo from their days as a working royal.
Now, the couple are under one biography for “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex,” with a featured photo showing them sitting on the beach wearing floral leis during a 2018 visit to Australia.
Not only is their photo far more casual than any of the other royal family members featured on the page, but the duo has also found themselves at the very bottom underneath 11 current working royals and the late Queen Elizabeth II’s son, Prince Andrew. He stepped down from royal duties in November 2019 due to his controversial connection to late alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Unlike their previous biographies, Harry and Meghan’s new one makes it very clear that they no longer represent the king or the Commonwealth. The top of their bio page begins with the sentence, “As announced in January 2020, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have stepped back as working members of The Royal Family.”
Harry formerly had a bio page featuring roughly 2,600 words about his royal life, education, accomplishments and more, while Meghan’s page was made up of 1,290 words about her humanitarian work prior to the royal family, college education and personal causes close to her heart.
The duke’s description now has quick mentions of his time in the army, charities he founded and previous overseas tours he did on behalf of Queen Elizabeth before stepping down from royal life.
Meghan’s “about” section talks about her working as an actress on Suits as well as, “The Duchess also wrote and edited a lifestyle website called The Tig.”
Under the “titles” part of their biography, it is noted, “The Duke and Duchess were given their titles by Queen Elizabeth II on the day of their marriage.” Throughout their bio page, neither Harry nor Meghan was directly named, instead being referred to only as “the duke” and “the duchess.”
A section called “Statements and Announcements” has been added that includes links to Harry and Meghan’s January 8, 2020, Instagram announcement that they planned to step down as senior working royals and wanted to carve a half-in, half-out plan.
That is followed by the late queen’s statement 12 days later following the Sandringham Summit as well as one from Buckingham Palace, which read, “As agreed in this new arrangement, they understand that they are required to step back from royal duties, including official military appointments. They will no longer receive public funds for Royal duties,” about Harry and Meghan. It also included how the pair were not to use their H.R.H. titles, as they were no longer working members of the family.
The final announcement was from February 2021, following the one-year grace period the queen gave the couple to change their minds and return to the fold. “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have confirmed to Her Majesty the Queen that they will not be returning as working members of The Royal Family,” the statement from Buckingham Palace read.
It noted that Harry and Meghan would be stripped of any honorary military appointments and royal patronages they had, which would be redistributed among working members of the royal family. The statement concluded, “While all are saddened by their decision, The Duke and Duchess remain much loved members of the family.”
