The Queen Released a Statement About Harry and Meghan's Resignation

Queen Elizabeth
(Image credit: Getty Images / Sean Gallup)

  • The Queen's office has responded to the bombshell news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be resigning as senior members of the Royal Family.
  • The royal family were reportedly not notified, and they seem to be indicating their "disappointment" about the decision, as well as the fact that it's going to take time to sort everything through.

The Royal Family has officially just responded to the bombshell news that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are, in effect, resigning as senior members of the Royal Family. And by the looks of it, they are very unhappy.

The statement from the Queen's office reads, "Discussions with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through." It also just broke that no one in the Royal Family was consulted about the break and they are apparently "disappointed."

In other words, if I'm understanding correctly, 1) this is a massive shock, 2) they don't agree with it, and 3) this is going to be a big old mess to try and sift through. Reading into it a bit further, it's almost as though they're urging Harry and Meghan to have caution about what they're doing—like a "hold on, don't be too hasty, stop what you're doing" kind of thing.

In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, Harry and Meghan just released a bombshell announcement that read, in part, "We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen."

"We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages," they added.

Here's the statement from the Royal Family so you can see it for yourself:

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And here's the scoop from the BBC:

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Apparently they only knew the idea of this for a couple days:

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Wow. Just wow.


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Katherine J. Igoe
Contributor

Katherine’s a Boston-based contributor at Marie Claire who covers fashion, culture, and lifestyle—from “Clueless” to Everlane to news about Lizzo. She’s been a freelancer for 11 years and has had roles with Cosmopolitan and Bustle, with bylines in Parents, Seventeen, and elsewhere. It’s “I go to dinner,” not “Her huge ego,” but she responds to both.