Opinion: Why didn’t Harry and Meghan inform Buckingham Palace of their decision to step down?

The big question.

As you may be aware, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle last night released a statement, announcing their decision to step down as senior members of the royal family. *Side note, the couple's newly launched website very firmly names them as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (insert side-eye emoji) because surely keeping their titles is at odds with their plans to step apart from the monarchy? Eager to define "progressive new roles", they are now going to divide their time between the UK and North America and needless to say, the news has been the source of much discussion among media outlets, over breakfast tables, on crowded trains and in morning meetings. #Megxit is trending on Twitter, everyone has a different take on the situation and one angle I personally find intriguing is whether Buckingham Palace knew about the decision beforehand? Johnny Dymond, a royal correspondent and presenter for BBC News, tweeted that a palace source confirmed no senior members of the royal family were consulted prior to the release of the statement.

BREAKING A palace source tells the BBC that senior members of the Royal family feel “hurt” by the announcement that Harry and Meghan are to withdraw from their current Royal roles. The source confirmed that no members of the royal family were consulted.

— Jonny Dymond (@JonnyDymond) January 8, 2020

While I understand that Harry and Meghan wish to make a transition, surely they could have given the rest of the family a heads up first? The Sussexes have previously called for privacy, especially in relation to their son Archie. They refused to release details of his godparents (it's the royal norm to make a song and dance of these occasions) and have kept official pictures and information to a minimum. They say they want to escape the constant media scrutiny they've experienced recently but blatantly ignoring the usual protocol is only going to add fuel to the fire. It seems a bit hypocritical of them because with this juicy AF angle, people are only mad to know exactly what went down, exactly what Harry and Meghan were trying to steer away from. And with their intention to become financially independent, they're likely to become the centre of attention for quite some time. The British taxpayer wants to know the when, where, why, what and how of their new plan and its various intricacies. Many have praised them for making such a bold move, announcing the news on Instagram is very millennial of them and paves the way for the social media strategy they plan to engage in shortly. However others believe the royal family is an institution that deserves some modicum of respect and aside from that, as close family, surely they could have given Harry's granny, dad and brother a bit of notice?

Omg so Harry & Meghan didn’t even get permission, they just ghosted! This tea is delicious. Darjeeling. #megxit pic.twitter.com/5bu38RkRzn

— Camilla Blackett (@camillard) January 8, 2020

Think about it, if your sibling decided to make a massive life change and put it on social media before letting you know, you might query why. And in fairness to William, he's likely to be king one day and here's Harry literally giving two fingers to the system. The view that the UK monarchy is an entirely outdated concept is a very common one and the couple are entitled to "a different approach" as Buckingham Palace so delicately described it but perhaps, a little cynically, I'm here wondering is the whole debacle a very carefully crafted PR strategy? The Sussexes will share "details of this exciting next step" in due course and in true influencer fashion, they've managed to build the suspense, so that royal fans will hang on their every word, waiting impatiently for that next Insta update...

3. Holy cow this statement from Buckingham Palace. Have any Royal reporters seen the Palace issue a statement like this? pic.twitter.com/0AZkyuNdiw

— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) January 8, 2020