The British royal family is currently dealing with a bit of a situation after Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced that they would be stepping back as senior members, a decision that reportedly shocked the rest of the family. According to reporter Tom Bradby, the Sussexes have not been supported and feel that they are being “driven out” of the royal family.
“There’ve been a lot of fallouts; a lot of harsh things were said around the time of the wedding,” Bradby said on ITV on Thursday, via PEOPLE. “And it’s gone a bit too far. And certainly the rest of the family find Harry and Meghan very difficult and, from Harry and Meghan’s point of view, they’re just being driven out as they see it. And it’s sad.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
“There are going to be so many complications, so many controversies,” he continued. “There needs to be a peace deal really soon because this is so toxic, there’s so much anger and, to be honest with you at the moment it looks like it might get worse, not better.”
Bradby explained that the couple’s decision was partly based on reports that Prince Charles wants to “slim down the monarchy” when he takes the throne.
“My impression is they’re pretty philosophical about it,” Bradby said of Harry and Markle. “[It’s] ‘We are making a break for independence and freedom here. You wanted a slimmed-down monarchy. There’s no place for us in it. We need to learn to live on our own. We want to get on and do that.’”
“They’re philosophical as in it’s up to [the royal family] — protection, Frogmore, everything else, the titles. You want to take it all away, fine,” he continued. “That’s okay. But it’s sort of up to you. We’d like to be involved, we’d like to do our charities, we’d like to support the Queen and we’d like to do stuff through the Commonwealth, but we accept that we’ve got no right to do that anymore.”
He added that Harry had been “talking to his family for some weeks about all this.”
“And certainly as I understand it what happened is he was asked by members of his family — or at least their officials — to put some of these ideas in writing,” the reporter continued. “He said, ‘I really don’t want to do that because it normally leaks.’ And they were very insistent in order to go forward and discuss it properly it had to be put in writing. He did put it in writing, and it did leak. So yes, I don’t think [the royal family] got much heads-up as to the actual announcement, but they certainly knew what was going on. I think [Harry] felt once it had been leaked all bets were off.”
On Jan. 8, Markle and Harry announced that they plan to step back as senior members of the royal family.
“After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution,” the couple shared in a statement on Instagram. “We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen. It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.”
“We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages,” the statement continued. “This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity. We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support.”
Photo Credit: Getty / Karwai Tang
