Despite admitting that she was not prepared for the royal media scrutiny, Meghan Markle was apparently warned many times about being part of the royal family. Reports now reveal that the Duchess of Sussex ignored these warnings, even from the ones that came from her husband, Prince Harry.
According to Daily Express, Meghan expressed, on several occasion, that she was not prepared for the kind of media scrutiny of her private and public life as a royal. Meghan said in the documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey that her British friends warned her about the tabloids.
Daily Express further noted that Prince Harry himself told his wife during their royal engagement interview that they had conversations about what it means to marry a royal. Meghan admitted in that same interview that she was naive of it all.
The duchess said that she was also surprised by the public's reaction to her relationship with Prince Harry. Despite the repeated warnings, however, Meghan said that she still couldn't completely grasp what marriage to a royal family member was like, let alone marriage to one of the most popular and well-liked royal.
In October 2019, the couple launched three lawsuits against the British press. After taking a time off from their royal duties during the holiday season, Prince Harry and Meghan returned to London to tell the world that they would like to step back from becoming senior royals.
The move surprised many, including the Queen. While Prince Harry and Meghan had discussions with the senior royals in the weeks prior to their announcement, Queen Elizabeth, apparently, asked them not to make any statements until things are finalized. Friends defended that Prince Harry and Meghan went ahead with the announcement because the press was going to leak their plans.
It took at least two weeks for Queen Elizabeth to decide what to do with Prince Harry and Meghan. After a series of talks with Prince Harry, Prince William and Prince Charles, Her Majesty announced that she has agreed for Prince Harry and Meghan to live in Canada and earn their private income. However, they will no longer perform their royal duties for the Crown nor represent Queen Elizabeth.
Prince Harry, however, insisted in a speech before his charity, Sentebale, that they are not walking away from their royal life and that he's still very much the same royal. The decision to leave for Canada, however, was to protect his wife and family from the scrutiny of the press.
