Prince Harry ‘sad’ to quit royal duties

While Prince Harry says he’s sad to step down from the royal family it was a ‘step forward’ into a hoped for ‘peaceful life’.

‘It has been our privilege to serve you, and we will continue to lead a life of service, so in that respect nothing changes’: Harry with pop star Lewis Capaldi at a fundraising for AIDS charity Sentebale in London on Monday. Picture: Getty Images

The Duke of Sussex has spoken about a great sadness at standing down from royal duties but insisted it was taken to “step forward into what I hope can be a peaceful life’’.

But the future for the sixth in line to the throne continues to be mired in controversy after the Duchess of Sussex abandoned royal protocol to accept a diamond and gold necklace during a charity event in Canada last week.

Prince Harry and Meghan, who will not be able to use their royal highness titles, have said they want to be financially independent, raising fears how they will commercialise their activities to fund their ongoing lifestyle.

Meghan accepted a diamond and 18-carat-gold charm in the shape of a whale — worth about $2800 — during a visit to see staff of the Justice for Girls group in Vancouver last Tuesday.

This comes after footage was aired of Harry touting Meghan for voiceover work with Disney.

The conundrum about having a quiet life, yet still satisfying Meghan’s wish to help humanitarian causes — and then publicising those efforts with carefully curated and pre-approved messages and photographs — will be central to Harry’s ongoing happiness.

On Sunday night (Monday AEDT), during one of his last speeches in London before jetting back to Canada to join Meghan and baby Archie, Harry told the Sentebale charity — which he helped form in 2006 — that he was not just walking away.

Reading from prepared notes, Harry said it was his decision to “step my family back from all I have ever known’’.

“That I would step my family back from all I have ever known to take a step forward into what I hope can be a more peaceful life,’’ he said. “I was born into this life and it is a great honour to serve my country and the Queen.

“When I lost my mum 23 years ago, you took me under your wing. You looked out for me for so long but the media is a powerful force and my hope is one day our collective support for each other can be more powerful because this is so much bigger than just us.

“It has been our privilege to serve you, and we will continue to lead a life of service, so in that respect nothing changes.”

Harry explained that at the time of his wedding “we were excited, we were hopeful, and we were here to serve”.

The 35-year-old said he and Meghan had originally hoped to continue serving the Queen, the Commonwealth and his military associations, without any public funding, when they announced their break from royal duties two weeks ago. But alluding to the difficulties in squaring public duty and the ongoing public scrutiny and accountability, he felt he didn’t have a choice.

“The decision that I have made for my wife and I to step back is not one I made lightly,’’ Harry said

“It was so many months of talks after so many years of challenges and I know I haven’t always got it right, but as far as this goes there really was no other option.”

Harry said the UK would always be his home, and insisted that Meghan “upholds the same values as I do”.

The Sussexes will repay £2.4m spent on the extensive refurbishment of their UK home, Frogmore Cottage at Windsor, and will pay a “commercial rent’’ to the Crown to retain it as their British base. Harry added: ‘What I want to make clear is we’re not walking away and we certainly aren’t walking away from you’’.

Under the deal agreed with the Queen after a summit with Prince Charles, Prince William and Harry last week at Sandringham the couple will be known as Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. They will cease being working members of the royal family and will not perform any official duties on behalf of the Queen.

The day after the agreement was released on Saturday night, the Queen turned to another royal catastrophe — her son Prince Andrew — and accompanied him to church near Sandringham. It was the first time the two had been in public together since Andrew’s car-wreck interview in November when he showed no regret for his friendship with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.