Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's New Out-of-Office Message

(Image credit: SIMON DAWSON)

published 2 April 2020

March 31 was Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's last day as senior members of the British royal family.
News broke in February that the couple would close their U.K. office at Buckingham Palace, where they previously employed 15 people.
Their former official email now sends an automated reply, reading, "The office for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has now closed."

Well, it's official: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's U.K. office is closed for good. The ultimate confirmation? Their new out-of-office (forever) reply. As People reports, messages to their official email account now receive the following automated response: "Many thanks for your email. The office for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has now closed."

Meghan and Harry closed their Buckingham Palace office, where they employed 15 staff, back in February, after announcing that they would step down as senior royals the previous month. CNN reported that "efforts [were] being made to redeploy people within the royal household," though there would be "some redundancies."

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One such redeployment? The Sussexes' former head of communications, Sara Latham, who was hired by none other than Queen Elizabeth II. Before joining Meghan and Harry's team, Latham was a senior advisor during Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, advised Barack Obama after he was elected in 2008, and worked for Bill Clinton in the '90s. Quite a resume!

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Emily Dixon is a British journalist who’s contributed to CNN, Teen Vogue, Time, Glamour, The Guardian, Wonderland, The Big Roundtable, Bust, and more, on everything from mental health to fashion to political activism to feminist zine collectives. She’s also a committed Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and Tracee Ellis Ross fan, an enthusiastic but terrible ballet dancer, and a proud Geordie lass.