- Outlandish royal rumors are nothing new, but a report from the Sunday Times suggesting that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle might move to Africa could be legit.
- Buckingham Palace has weighed in on the report and they're not denying it.
- The move would put Harry and Meghan even farther from daily royal life and Prince William and Kate Middleton.
At this point, we're used to reading outlandish royal rumors on a weekly basis. When a report from the Sunday Times suggested that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry might move to Africa for new royal jobs after the birth of their first child, we honestly lumped it into that category, but that might have been a mistake. Buckingham Palace has weighed in on the rumor—and they're not denying it.
Royal reporter Richard Palmer tweeted Sunday that the Palace officially broke its silence on the rumors, but refused to deny them. In a series of tweets, Palmer revealed:
"Buckingham Palace is not denying a report that officials have discussed sending Harry and Meghan to Africa as a way of capitalising on their appeal to young people in the Commonwealth — and of putting further distance between them and the Cambridges.
Buckingham Palace: 'Any future plans for The Duke and Duchess are speculative at this stage. No decisions have been taken about future roles.
The Duke will continue to fulfil[l] his role as Commonwealth Youth Ambassador.'"
Palmer's update comes after sources spoke to the Sunday Times and suggested that the royal family wanted to move Harry and Meghan far away in an attempt to control their growing fame.
“There have been various ideas floated for them to take on a job abroad, such as governor-general of Australia or Canada, wherever,” a palace source told The Sunday Times of London.
According to the Sunday Times' sources, the Canada and Australia plans were rejected because Canada is too close to American press and the internet makes Australia too accessible by press as well.
“The trouble is that you effectively set them up as king and queen of a whole separate country,” one source told the paper. “And 24-hour media means that Australia is not as far away as it used to be.”
Africa is reportedly still in contention, however.
“[The royals] sent [Harry and Meghan] down to Frogmore to try to keep them out of the limelight for a bit. This is doomed to fail. They are worried that Harry and Meghan are going to establish a totally separate enterprise that nobody can get under control," one of the Sunday Times' sources said. "There are discussions in palace circles about how do we harness Harry and Meghan and this tremendous global attention they get. How do we draw them back, because laying down the law and ticking them off doesn’t work at all."
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