One Year After the Queen's Death, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Are Further Than Ever From the Royal Fold

Who can forget the moment ahead of Prince Harry’s 2016 Invictus Games when he managed to get Queen Elizabeth and the Obamas to take part in a viral video. His face flushed as he sat next to his grandmother in Windsor Castle, their hilarious “drop the mic” moment at the President and First Lady generated worldwide hype around the Games. “She’s the head of the armed forces…and if you’ve got the ability to be able to ask the Queen to up one on the Americans then why not?” the Prince later quipped to the BBC.

Fast forward to 2023 and we are approaching the sixth iteration of the Invictus Games in very different circumstances. The new head of the armed forces in the UK—Harry’s father King Charles—is not expected to be anywhere near the event when it is held in Dusseldorf from September 9 to 16. It will be interesting to see if he even acknowledges Invictus publicly (Queen Elizabeth did not when it was held in the Hague in 2022) because it now has no official connection to the monarchy.

More than three years into the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s departure, the web of ties built up over Harry’s adult lifetime as a working royal has now almost entirely untangled. His royal patronages and honorary military appointments are long gone. The official roles that he has kept—such as patron of Invictus, WellChild and Sentebale—he now fulfills in a personal capacity with no royal affiliation. Summaries of Harry and Meghan’s past royal work now sit, frozen in time, on the monarchy’s website below stories about the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent.

While the public is now used to their absence on the royal roster, the past year since Queen Elizabeth’s death has seen a gulf wider than ever become apparent between the Sussexes and Harry’s family. In June 2022, during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the two sides were still putting on some sort of united front. Harry and Meghan’s presence at Trooping the Colour and the Service of Thanksgiving sent a signal that they were still very much welcome as family members. Following Queen Elizabeth’s death, the “fab four” were briefly reunited for a walkabout in Windsor, after an invitation from William to Harry which many hopefully interpreted as an olive branch.

However, events of the past 12 months have seen relations appear to deteriorate so much that even shows of unity have become a thing of the past. Harry’s blink-and-you-miss-it solo appearance at the coronation, with no noticeable interaction with his father or brother, said much about his position within the new era. The fact that the Sussexes were not invited to the first Trooping the Colour of Charles’s reign—ostensibly due to not being working royals—was another indicator of just how hostile personal relations have become. Harry has returned to the UK for his legal battles with the British newspapers without seeing the King or Prince of Wales. And despite coming to Europe for this year’s Invictus, the Sussexes are not expected to stop at Balmoral where the King will spend the anniversary of his accession and Queen Elizabeth’s death. The royal brothers cannot even be viewed side by side in portraiture, with a 2010 painting of the pair no longer on display in the National Portrait Gallery.

Increased hostility is hardly surprising given that, since Queen Elizabeth’s death, the Sussexes have been more vocal than ever in their criticism of the royals. Their Netflix series and Harry’s memoir, Spare, can only be described as seminal moments. “You haven't so much burnt your bridges as taken a flame thrower to them,” journalist Tom Bradby observed to Harry during an interview about his book. The Prince made it clear he takes a very different view. “I'm not sure how honesty is burning bridges. You know, silence only allows the abuser to abuse.”

With such animosity still so very raw, it was surprising to many that in March it became apparent that Harry and Meghan wanted their children Archie and Lilibet to use the royal titles Prince and Princess—available to them when they became the grandchildren of the sovereign. Explaining they didn’t want to deny their children their “birthright,” the decision nevertheless left the couple vulnerable to ongoing debate over benefitting from royal status while eschewing the institution. Harry’s legal battle with the UK’s Home Office to reinstate automatic security is another reminder of the complexities of exiting a system where birthright and business collide.

Indeed, polling shows that the Sussexes’ popularity with the public in the UK over the past year has remained low, with one poll suggesting they are more unpopular than ever. Their favorability is slightly higher amongst young people aged 18-24; however even amongst this age group they fall below William and Kate when it comes to the number of people who say they hold a positive view of them.

Harry and Meghan have long-refused to deal with sections of the British media—the real villain in Harry’s book which he blames for blighting his life. However, criticism from sections of the U.S. media in the past few months may have bothered them more. “Harry and Meghan Produce a Hollywood Flop: Themselves,” declared the Wall Street Journal in June. A much commented on episode of South Park in February mocked them with a “worldwide privacy tour,” and the reaction to Harry’s book showed that baring his soul did not convince everyone to subscribe to his narrative.

One of the questions around the Sussexes as we get further into their tenure of independence is what exactly their new identity and purpose is. “What are they doing?” was a question asked to me during an appearance on a talk show a few weeks ago and it’s certainly not the first time I’ve heard this point raised. When they walked away from royal life, they removed the substance that representing the institution of the monarchy gave them. Replacing it with a new raison d’être was always going to be a challenge. Much of the criticism of their approach can be traced back to the fact that they have yet to cultivate a new strong and independent brand to represent.

Perhaps one of the stumbling blocks has been Harry and Meghan’s own ambition: their desire to do so much and make such an impact all while earning an income to maintain a certain lifestyle. From podcasts to books, business roles, investing and grant-giving, the tentacles of their personal endeavors and that of their non-profit Archewell have been wide-ranging. Yet the fall-through of their Spotify deal suggests that not all has gone as planned. Could it be that emulating the royal approach of taking on multiple different projects, visits, and causes does not work so well without the infrastructure of, well, a constitutional position?

There is no sense that Prince Harry and Meghan want to return to life as working royals and, from what they have said publicly, no sense that they regret decisions made since becoming independent. Yet with many more years ahead of them on the world stage, building a legacy outside of their former royal identities remains the professional challenge yet to be mastered. On a personal level, the breakdown of family relationships simply remains very sad.

There was a time when Prince Harry basked in global affection as his work effortlessly commanded the public backing of the Queen, the President, and the First Lady. As he arrives in Dusseldorf for Invictus this week we are reminded that he seeks to make an impact for the same causes that are as important as ever. But he is now doing it from a very different position.

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