Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have officially bid goodbye to royal life. The couple’s final engagement as senior members of the British royal family was Monday’s Commonwealth Day service in Westminster Abbey, which they attended alongside Queen Elizabeth II and key members of the royal family.
The ceremony – held annually to celebrate the 54 commonwealth countries – was the first public get-together for the Sussexes and the Cambridges (Prince William and Kate Middleton) since Harry and Meghan announced their decision to “step back” from their roles as senior working royals. The last time the once dubbed “Fab Four” were seen together was the Remembrance Day service back in November 2019.
The Commonwealth Day Service is a very important occasion for Queen Elizabeth II, who on her 21st birthday in 1947, declared to the Commonwealth that her “whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service.” One perhaps can’t miss the irony that a service held celebrating the unifying role the monarch holds as head of the Commonwealth network was Harry and Meghan’s last royal duty to the Commonwealth.
In January, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said they intended to divide their time between North America and the United Kingdom with plans to become “financially independent.” But after a historic family summit to discuss Harry and Meghan’s unprecedented intentions to become “part-time” royals, the queen concluded that the couple would have to forsake all royal duties; they simply couldn’t be “half-in, half-out” royals.
Shortly after, Prince Harry gave a speech expressing “great sadness” over the outcome that forced them to entirely leave behind royal life, saying that he felt “there was no other option.”
“Our hope was to continue serving the Queen, the Commonwealth and my military associations but without public funding,” Harry said at a dinner for his Sentebale charity in January. It “ultimately wasn’t possible.”
The past few weeks have seen even more changes for the Sussexes as the Queen declared they would not be allowed to use the “Sussex Royal” brand once they quit their royal roles on March 31. The ban forces the couple to have to rebrand themselves after they had trademarked “Sussex Royal” last year.
The Commonwealth Day event closed out a final round of royal commitments for the Sussexes that included the Endeavour Fund Awards and the Mountbatten Festival of Music. The couple definitely seem to be going out in style as they received high praise for the glamour they brought to what can almost be described as their farewell tour these last few days. A photo taken of the two walking in the rain and beaming into each other’s eyes has been described as “magical.”
In what was her last solo event as a working royal, Meghan surprised students at an east London school with an inspiring speech in honor of International Women’s Day. The duchess encouraged young women and men to not be afraid to use their voices to speak out against gender inequality and social injustice. No doubt, an empowering final royal act.
There will be a 12-month review to see how things with Harry and Meghan’s new arrangement pan out. Until then, that’s a royal wrap on the Sussexes!
