Prince Harry Was the Driving Force Behind the Sussexes' Royal Exit

• Friday marks one year since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (opens in new tab) announced they were stepping down as senior royals (opens in new tab).
• While some corners of the media rushed to pin the blame on Meghan, sources close to Harry stress he'd wanted to step down for quite some time.
• "It came to the point where he wanted a different way of life," an insider told Vanity Fair. "Meghan was simply the catalyst."

Friday, January 8, marks one year since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's bombshell announcement (opens in new tab) that they were stepping down as senior royals—and thus about one year since tabloids started using the phrase "Megxit," which, it turns out, is a pretty inaccurate and unfair way to describe the move. While some corners of the media rushed to pin the blame on Meghan, a source close to Harry revealed that the Sussexes' royal exit was actually his idea.

"It came to the point where he wanted a different way of life," an insider explained to Vanity Fair. (opens in new tab) "Meghan was simply the catalyst." Probably time to retire "Megxit" for good, wouldn't you agree? 

Vanity Fair also revealed that the Sussexes' shock announcement was not how Meghan and Harry wanted things to go. Royal historian Robert Lacey told the magazine, "Harry and Meghan had put a great deal of thought into trying to create something that would work for both sides, but that was all blown when their plans were leaked to the press."

"Harry was trying to get Charles, William, and the queen to approve a plan, which they wanted in writing. Harry wanted to talk face-to-face because he was worried it would leak," Lacey continued. "Reluctantly, he did put it in writing, it did leak, and that led to the Sussexes making the announcement."

A year later, Meghan and Harry are reportedly stronger than ever, despite a painful 2020 in which Meghan experienced a miscarriage (opens in new tab) and both pursued legal action over press intrusion (opens in new tab) and inaccurate stories (opens in new tab). Finding Freedom author Omid Scobie told Vanity Fair, "They’ve proved that they can master the challenge when it comes their way."

"When you look at everything they’ve faced, nothing has gone to plan but they’ve remained positive," Scobie continued, "and it’s the support they give each other that gets them through."