Harry and Meghan want to be seen as ‘public figures’ rather than private citizens, sources claim

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appear to have taken issue with one of the clearest messages in King Charles’s latest guidance on their status: that they should be treated as private citizens.

The couple reportedly would prefer to be described as public figures, despite having stepped down as working royals in 2020 and no longer receiving public funding.

The dispute emerged after Buckingham Palace issued a letter on Monday, written by the Lord Chamberlain on the King’s instructions, confirming that there had been no change to the arrangement reached after the Sussexes’ departure from royal duties.

The intervention came shortly after Harry and Meghan returned to live in the UK with their children, following six years in the United States.

Palace says their status has not changed

The Palace letter was intended to remove any uncertainty about how Harry and Meghan should be treated by government departments, military officials and other senior figures following their return.

Written by Lord Benyon, the Lord Chamberlain, it reiterated that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are no longer working members of the Royal Family.

Their His and Her Royal Highness styles remain in abeyance and are not used, while their charitable activities are conducted in a private capacity.

The letter also referred back to the agreement reached at the 2020 Sandringham Summit, when Harry and Meghan stepped away from official royal duties and established their new life in the United States.

In essence, the Palace position is that their circumstances remain exactly as they were after Megxit.

The letter described their position as being akin to private citizens with commercial and charitable interests.

That wording, however, appears to have become the central source of irritation for the Sussexes.

Sussexes reportedly prefer ‘public figures’

Sources close to Harry and Meghan have suggested that the couple were particularly unhappy with the description of them as private citizens.

According to a briefing attributed to those close to the Sussexes, Harry believes that if they were genuinely to be treated simply as private citizens, there would have been no need for such formal guidance from the Palace.

The couple are said to prefer the term public figures.

They would also, according to the briefing, have preferred some acknowledgement that they remain members of the Royal Family in a personal sense, even though they no longer undertake official duties or receive public funding.

That position highlights the difficulty surrounding the model the Sussexes originally hoped to establish: maintaining links with the monarchy while pursuing independent commercial and charitable interests.

Palace insiders have suggested that the latest disagreement demonstrates why a so-called half-in, half-out arrangement was never considered sustainable alongside the couple’s commercial activities.

Palace declined to comment

Buckingham Palace declined to respond to the Sussexes’ concerns, taking the position that the letter itself provided the necessary explanation.

The guidance was issued under King Charles’s authority and did not formally change Harry and Meghan’s existing status.

Instead, it reinforced the terms that have applied since their withdrawal from royal duties in January 2020. The couple remain the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but their HRH styles are not used and they do not carry out official duties on behalf of the monarch.

The Palace has also stressed that any charitable work undertaken by Harry and Meghan is personal rather than part of the work of the Royal Family.

That distinction has become particularly significant now that the couple are living in Britain again and are expected to undertake public-facing activities.

Sussexes say they had little warning

The disagreement was compounded by the way the letter was released.

A spokesman for Harry and Meghan indicated that the couple had been caught off guard by the announcement.

According to Team Sussex, the contents were shared with their representatives at 1.59pm.

They responded at 2.19pm, reportedly in the hope that they would be given an opportunity to clarify “one or two points” before the letter was released.

Harry was in London at Tower Bridge Studios at the time and, according to the Sussex side, could not be reached immediately.

He was contacted at 3.09pm.

Two minutes later, at 3.11pm, the Sussexes were told that the letter had already been sent to the media five minutes earlier.

Other reports have likewise said the couple received only about an hour’s notice before the guidance became public.

Security question adds to the tension

The timing of the Palace intervention has also prompted speculation because it came ahead of a meeting of RAVEC, the Royal and VIP Executive Committee, which considers security arrangements for senior figures.

Sources close to Harry and Meghan have suggested that the timing may have been intended to influence the committee’s consideration of whether Harry should again receive taxpayer-funded security in Britain.

The Daily Mail understands that suggestion to be incorrect.

According to the newspaper, the letter was circulated to provide clarity ahead of what is expected to be a busy programme for the Sussexes following their return to the UK.

Harry has been engaged in a long-running dispute over his publicly funded security arrangements since stepping down as a working royal. The question of what level of protection he and his family should receive in Britain remains separate from the Palace’s clarification of their royal status.

A clearer boundary between the Sussexes and working royals

The King’s intervention therefore appears designed to draw a firm line between Harry and Meghan’s public profile and the official responsibilities of working members of the Royal Family.

Their return to Britain has brought that distinction back into sharp focus.

The Sussexes retain their royal titles as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and remain members of the Royal Family in a familial sense. But, under the arrangement established in 2020, they do not represent the Sovereign, do not undertake official royal duties and do not use their HRH styles publicly.

For Harry and Meghan, however, the preference for the description public figures suggests that they do not see their role simply through the lens of private citizenship.

That tension between their continuing connection to the monarchy and their independent public and commercial lives is likely to remain a significant issue as they establish themselves in Britain once again.