For a prince raised in a palace with a clear template of how his life would unfold, the flight from the UK seemed both irrational and reactive.
What would his and Meghan Markle’s new life look like? Would they continue to work as royals? And how would the Queen, Prince Harry’s then 93-year-old grandmother and Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, recover from what was widely regarded as the most grievous of insults?
But, more important than any of those was one gnawing question: would ‘Megxit’ bring the couple the happiness and peace they so urgently sought? Five years on, we take a look.
Beginning of the end
The end of March will mark five years since Harry and Meghan formally exited the royal family, even though they made their astonishing announcement nearly three months earlier on 8 January 2020. Ahead of that milestone, which will inevitably prompt much analysis, there’s no question that Prince Harry is determined to control the narrative.
It’s no accident that in mid-December he was suddenly forthcoming (with the media he hates so much) about the couple’s private lives, declaring that his family was happy in California. He also knocked back speculation that his and Meghan’s seven-year marriage was in trouble.
“I very much enjoy living here and bringing up my kids here.”
Prince Harry during an interview at The New York Times’ annual DealBook Summit in New York.
Revealing that he and Meghan have no plans to return to royal life in Britain, he said his children – Archie, five, and Lilibet Diana, three – could do things in America that they “undoubtedly wouldn’t be able to do in the UK”.
With divorce rumours swirling for the past few months, fuelled by the couple’s increasingly separate working lives, the prince also took the opportunity to get on the front foot. “Apparently, we’ve bought or moved house 10 or 12 times,” he said. “We’ve apparently divorced maybe 10 or 12 times as well.”
“It’s hard to keep up with,” he continued. “But that’s why you just sort of ignore it. The people I feel most sorry about are the trolls.”
Family first
With Harry also revealing that his goal was “being the best husband and the best dad that I can be,” it’s clear he wants to focus on his immediate family and not his wider relationships with the King and Queen, and Prince and Princess of Wales.
With two of the four recovering from cancer, Harry knows he’d lose any remaining skerrick of goodwill were he to criticise the royal family, as he and Meghan did so comprehensively during their interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, their Netflix series in 2022, and Harry’s blistering autobiography Spare, published two years ago.
The fact is that, whatever personal gains they’ve enjoyed in giving up their royal roles, Megxit has also cost the couple dearly. Their growing children have no relationship with their cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and many of Harry’s close friends in the UK have fallen away. There’s also no indication that the couple has fostered close US-based friendships beyond Meghan’s stable of acting mates.
Their Montecito neighbour Richard Mineards has revealed on the recent German documentary, Harry – The Lost Prince, that Meghan is not ‘an asset’ to their California neighbourhood. As he said: “She doesn’t really go out or get involved with the community.”
Working apart
If the intention of Megxit was to give the pair personal freedom, it was also designed to provide them with professional fulfilment away from the demands and scrutiny that come with a royal role. Yet, five years on, there is no coherent purpose or endeavour.
Apart from the Invictus Games, which Harry instigated 12 years ago, the couple appear to ricochet between various charity causes, social issues, pseudo-royal tours, fledgling business ideas and content creation endeavours.
There is no single message that unites their pursuits, possibly because they have failed to retain the staff that could formulate and drive the sort of legacy projects with which the Prince and Princess of Wales are becoming synonymous.
More trouble
Donald Trump’s return to the presidency in Harry’s adopted homeland might also make him nervous. There are ongoing concerns about Harry’s US visa situation, with questions being asked about the drug use in Spare (something that should have been disclosed on any application).
“I wouldn’t protect him. He betrayed the Queen. That’s unforgivable. He would be on his own if it was down to me.”
US Present Trump
While making life difficult for Prince Harry is unlikely to be at the top of Trump’s ‘to do’ list, the President was seen deep in happily animated conversation with Prince William at the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in December. A sight that Harry might well have found galling.
Yet, for all their troubles, including claims of a “near catastrophic high-speed car chase” involving paparazzi in New York in 2023, and Harry’s ongoing court cases over security and the media, the couple do still retain some of their star power.
The late Queen Elizabeth might have quashed their intentions of being half in, half out of the royal family but, five years on, Harry and Meghan can still command an audience.
For Harry, at least, the challenge will be whether he can step away from the complaining ‘spare’ narrative and create a life that is purposeful and meaningful. If he can, and if the couple remain united, then Megxit– for all the hurt it caused at the time – will have been worth it.
