Prince Harry gave an emotional speech at a private dinner for his charity supporting young people with HIV and AIDS on Sunday – a day after Queen Elizabeth released a statement saying Harry and wife Meghan Markle will stop using their HRH titles as of this spring.
The Queen’s announcement concluded a week of urgent talks with senior royals after Harry and Meghan’s bombshell announcement that they were stepping back from their royal duties and moving to North America.
Meghan, 38, fled London the next day in her haste to return to a gated waterfront mansion on Vancouver Island in North America where she left her 8-month-old son Archie Harrison with her confidante, Jessica Mulroney, and a nanny.
A Palace official has said, “once the new arrangements take effect in the spring, Harry and Meghan will be known as “Harry, Duke of Sussex” and “Meghan, Duchess of Sussex”.
The shocking announcement by the Queen sparked rumors that Harry and Meghan were divorcing. Friends have said they expect Harry to divorce Meghan within a year.
But the 35-year-old Prince spoke warmly of his social climbing wife during his speech on Sunday.
“Finally, the second son of Diana got hitched… hurray!” said Harry. “I also know that you’ve come to know me well enough over these past years to trust that the woman I chose as my wife upholds the same values as I do – and she does. And she is the same woman I fell in love with.”
He added:
“Once Meghan and I were married, we were excited. We were hopeful and we were here to serve. For those reasons it brings me great sadness that it has come to this. The decision that I have made for my wife and I to step back is not one I made lightly. It was so many months of talks, after so many years of challenges, and I know I haven’t always gotten it right, but as far as this goes there really was no other option.
“Our hope was to continue serving the Queen, the commonwealth and my military associations but without public funding. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.”
When a Palace official was asked what to call the couple, the official reportedly said the couple should be referred to as “Sir” and “Ma’am”.
Harry and Meghan will live off of Harry’s £2.3 million annual allowance from his father Prince Charles (pictured), who is said to be “devastated.”
And, while Harry and Meghan will not be stripped of their coveted HRH titles, they have agreed not to use their titles to enrich themselves.
Minutes after the Queen’s official announcement on their future, Meghan updated their “Sussex Royal” website with a statement referring to her and Harry as “their Royal Highnesses” – which seemed to fly in the face of what the Queen said about them not using their royal titles.
According to London’s Dailymail.com, Harry and Meghan’s agreement to stop using their HRH titles is the price they must pay for their independence.
Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana was stripped of her HRH title after she divorced Prince Charles in 1996.
Diana was given millions in the divorce, but the Queen removed her bodyguards – leaving Diana to fend for herself, until she met Dodi Fayed, the son of Egyptian billionaire Mohamed El Fayed, who provided bodyguards of his own.
They died together in a high-speed car crash inside a tunnel in Paris, while being pursued by paparazzi in 1997. Harry was 12 at the time of his mother’s death.
Harry and Meghan have also agreed to repay the £2.4 million in Sovereign Grant taxpayer money they spent to refurbish their Frogmore Cottage home in Windsor.
The Queen gifted the home to Harry and Meghan so they will have someplace to stay when they visit. The couple will pay rent on the house – up to £360,000 per year. But Meghan’s confidants have already said she has no plans to return to London. Sources say Meghan’s plan all along was to move back to Toronto.
According to the Daily Mail, Meghan had her things “put into storage” in Canada – contradicting previous claims that she moved ALL of her personal belongings to London before marrying Harry.
Friends say Meghan feels she deserves better than the modest cottage and a life of servitude in London. They say she enjoys living lavishly in a $14 million mansion on Vancouver Island. The house is owned by a Russian businessman with links to the Ukrainian government.
Sources say Harry is “annoyed” that his wife is living it up with her friends in another man’s house that he can hardly afford on his £2.3 million annual allowance from his dad.
Harry has reportedly told Meghan not to get too comfortable in that house, as they will be downsizing to more reasonable accommodations as soon as he joins her and son Archie in Canada.
Sources say Harry and Meghan have reached the post-honeymoon phase in their marriage when Meghan needs more narcissistic supply to keep her happy.
Friends say Meghan wants a husband who can provide her with a lifestyle of wealth and materialism that she feels she deserves – rather than living off of handouts from the Royal Family.
The former c-list “Suits” actress wants to return to television or even star in movies in the near future. There are reports that Meghan wants to play herself in the Netflix royal drama “The Crown.”
The mother-of-one signed a deal to do voiceovers for Disney last fall in return for a donation to an elephant charity in Africa. And Harry has already collaborated on a six-part mental health special for Apple TV with his friend, American billionaire and television mogul Oprah Winfrey.
The couple plan to create a production company similar to the one owned by former U.S. President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, who signed a lucrative deal to produce TV specials and movies for Netflix.
Netflix has expressed interest in working with Harry and Meghan. A Netflix exec reportedly said, “Who wouldn’t be interested? Yes, sure.”
But Harry has promised the Queen they won’t sign any “dodgy deals” that might further embarrass the Royal Family.
More film footage has surfaced from a red carpet movie premiere in July, that shows Harry and Meghan begging another American film executive for work.
Earlier video footage from The Lion King premiere showed Harry begging Disney chief Robert Iger for voiceover work for Meghan in the next Lion King film. “You do know she does voiceovers?”
Iger is heard replying, “Ah, I did not know that.”
“You seem surprised,” said Harry, while Meghan stood nearby pretending not to hear the conversation.
Iger appeared stunned by the highly unusual request from a royal at a movie premiere of all places. Later, Iger was seen gesturing toward Harry and telling his wife, Willow Bay, what Harry asked him. Bay looked surprised by what she heard.
In the new video footage, both Harry and Meghan are seen asking The Lion King director Jon Favreau for jobs in the next Lion King movie.
In the video Harry tells Favreau: “If anyone needs any voiceover work…” before Meghan interrupts him – as she always does – and says: “That’s really why we’re here. It’s the pitch!”
Harry then says: “She’ll tackle any voiceover – just not Scar,” referring to the villain character who tries to steal the kingdom from Simba.
Semi-retired American singer Beyonce Knowles-Carter, 39, who voiced Nala in the movie, is seen in the background covering her face and giggling at the royals, whom she obviously thought were joking.
In another still from the video, Beyonce looks at the royal couple with disdain, apparently after realizing they weren’t joking.
Meghan has reportedly assembled a team of Hollywood agents and publicists to discuss future projects for her. Meghan’s own father Thomas Markle said she is turning the Royal Family into a Walmart.
In a sensational interview with Channel 5, Thomas said Meghan and Harry are “embarrassing” and “cheapening” the Royal Family by quitting.
He added: “This is not the girl I raised.”
