Prince Harry and Meghan Markle marked their first joint engagement in the UK with a visit to Nottingham last week, where they met local residents and volunteers from several charitable organizations. Although it was not an official royal visit, it certainly looked like one, and the couple were reportedly thrilled with the warm reception they received.
However, according to The Sunday Times, a friend of the couple says the Sussexes dislike being described as working members of the royal family.
“They are not ‘working’ for the institution but they are members of the royal family and they work. Their days are built around their family life and their work. She’s running a business seven days a week,” the friend said.
The couple also reject the phrase “former royals,” which the same friend described as misleading. “It’s misleading to call them ‘former royals.’ It has an impact on how they’re perceived and the way people talk about them.”
Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and spent six years in California before returning to the UK with their children in late August. However, their return has been far from smooth.
In September, King Charles made it clear in a letter that their position was “akin to private citizens” rather than public figures, and that they should not be addressed as His and Her Royal Highness. Harry, meanwhile, continues to push for publicly funded police protection, which was withdrawn when the couple gave up royal duties.
According to the friend, however, “Things like Nottingham aren’t done in the name of the institution or the crown.” They further stressed that “Harry is the son of the King,” meaning he remains a member of the royal family even though he is no longer part of the institution.
Royal Experts Say Prince Harry’s Nottingham Visit Looked Like a Royal Engagement
If these reports reflect the couple’s actual view, I think it suggests the Sussexes may still be seeking a half-in, half-out arrangement, the very model that was firmly rejected at the 2020 Sandringham summit. That view was echoed by royal commentators in our earlier coverage of the visit.
Royal author Katie Nicholl said that “despite not being working members of the royal family, the Nottingham visit sure looked like, well, to me, a royal visit,” pointing out that it fell on the same day King Charles and Queen Camilla were in Wales opening the Welsh Parliament.
Meanwhile, Daily Mirror Royal Editor Russell Myers was blunter, calling the trip “a lazy attempt at nostalgia” and saying the couple are “in this no man’s land at the moment.”
For Harry and Meghan, who insist they are royals but not working ones, that in-between status is exactly what the palace is unlikely to leave unresolved for long.
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