Skip to main content

UK royals set for last big get together before Harry and Meghan's exit

LONDON (ITNTV) - Britain’s senior royals will come together on Monday for what is expected to be the last family gathering before Prince Harry and his wife Meghan set off on a new career path.
FILE PHOTO: Britain's Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, along with other members of the British royal family, watch as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team Red Arrows performs a flypast during Trooping the Colour parade in London, Britain June 8, 2019. 
The Commonwealth Service at London’s Westminster Abbey is an annual event that this year brings together Harry and Meghan with Queen Elizabeth, his elder brother William and wife Kate, and father Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, for the first time in public since the couple thrashed out an exit deal from their royal roles in January.
“It will be fascinating to see how it plays out,” said royal biographer Penny Junor. “I imagine everybody will be on absolutely best behavior. But goodness knows what they will all be thinking privately.”
The January agreement, which comes into action at the end of the month, will see the couple - the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - seek to carve out “a progressive new role”, mainly based in North America, that they aim to finance themselves.
Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, will stop using their HRH titles - His or Her Royal Highness, will not use “royal” in their branding and Harry, who will remain a prince, will relinquish his military titles.
Their announcement two months ago that they wished to step back from some of their royal duties sent shockwaves through the monarchy. It led to a crisis meeting involving the 93-year-old queen, her heir Charles, William and Harry that concluded he and Meghan would have to give up all their royal duties.
The couple have spent most of their time since in Canada, but returned at the start of the month for a farewell round of engagements. Harry and Meghan’s baby son Archie has remained behind in Canada.
Monday’s event to mark Commonwealth Day is expected to be their last official appearance, with no certainty about when the royal family will next be seen together.
“Our hope was to continue serving the queen, the Commonwealth and my military associations without public funding. Sadly that wasn’t possible,” the prince, the sixth-in-line to the throne, said in a speech in January.
‘GIVING UP EVERYTHING’
Polls show Harry, whose mother was the late Princess Diana, is one of the most popular royals. Junor said his leaving would be a huge loss for the family and the institution itself.
“I thought that he had absolutely embraced his destiny as a member of the royal family,” she told Reuters. “He recognized what he could do with his position, the power he had to change things for good. I think he will miss that ability to make people’s lives better.”
However, Harry, who served in the military for 10 years, has never hidden his discomfort with his royal role and the intense media attention it attracts. He has spoken candidly about his mental health struggles following his mother’s death.
He has also been angered by the treatment his American wife, a former actress, has received from some British tabloids, which he has described as bullying. She has also said how difficult she found it.
Junor said Harry might find life in the United States and Canada difficult away from his family, friends and former life.
“He is giving up everything he’s known, a huge family that he’s very close to and his work to go and live in Canada where he actually knows nobody and he has no job,” she said.
Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, arrive to attend the Mountbatten Festival of Music at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Britain March 7, 2020. REUTERS/Simon Dawson/Pool
Last weekend, Harry and the queen had a meeting at her Windsor Castle home to discuss his future. A royal source confirmed a report in the Sun newspaper that the queen told Harry he would always be welcome to rejoin the royal fold.
“I could imagine Harry coming back,” Junor said.
“I hope that they will not wake up one day and think ‘what on earth have we done and what does life hold for us? We’re sitting in paradise ... but what else do we have in life?’ I hope that doesn’t happen to them.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

European Union will close its borders to all non-essential travel to fight coronavirus

Madrid (ITNTV) The European Union will close its borders to all non-essential travel as it attempts to contain the  ongoing spread of the coronavirus  on the continent. "The less travel, the more we can contain the virus," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday following a video conference between G7 leaders. She appeared confident that the European Council would sign off on the restriction in a Tuesday vote. The bloc's member states imposed aggressive measures on Monday,  days after the  World Health Organization (WHO) said Europe was at the epicenter of the pandemic. French President Emmanuel Macron declared "war" on the virus during a national address on Monday, banning all social events across the country -- including family gatherings. Macron said those who have gathered in public places in recent days have not been respecting previous measures to limit the outbreak's spread in France, which as of Monday had 5,380 con...
Post a Comment
Read more

US uses encrypted app to connect with Iranians as coronavirus sweeps their country

Washington (ITNTV) The State Department is using social media to encourage Iranians to share information with the Trump administration -- both on an encrypted tip line and through an online survey -- about the  coronavirus pandemic  that is devastating the country. "This is Iran's Chernobyl," said one administration official of the outbreak, who described social media portals as a tool to bypass the Iranian regime and connect to the country's people. The US began encouraging Iranians to use the encrypted messaging app last year, when Iranian demonstrators took to the streets and US officials wanted to learn more about the regime's bloody crackdown. Now, with Covid-19 devastating Iran, the tip line has been reinvigorated, administration officials told CNN. This time, the goal is to collect information from Iranians, find ways to share that information when it is determined to be accurate and leverage the coronavirus in an effort to fortify a relationship ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Virus creates world's longest passenger flight

(ITNTV) —  The aviation industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with travelers across the world dealing with canceled flights and travel bans as they scramble to get home. But one unlikely aviation side effect is the creation of a new world aviation record. On March 14, French airline Air Tahiti Nui flew the longest ever scheduled passenger flight by distance -- transiting 9,765 miles across the world from Papeete, in Tahiti, French Polynesia, to Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport. This one off milestone was a direct consequence of the coronavirus-induced US travel restrictions. This route usually involves a scheduled stopover at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). But when an airplane stops over in the US, all passengers must alight the aircraft and proceed through US Customs and Border Protection before they're allowed to advance on with the next leg of their journey. Current restrictions rendered this part of the journey untenable, so instead, f...
Post a Comment
Read more