Prince Harry Says He & Meghan Markle Were 'Forced' to Step Away From Royal Duties in 2020

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Christmases have been different since they left the royal family in 2020. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex last spent the festive period with the Royal Family on the Sandringham Estate in 2018. A year later, they decided to celebrate in America with Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland before stepping back from The Firm in 2020 and permanently moving to the States.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's hopes of a Christmas reunion in the UK have been dashed due to fresh drama. Fans were hoping that 2023 might be the year the couple would patch things up with the rest of the Royal Family and spend Christmas at Sandringham. In recent months, there have been whispers from sources close to Harry and Meghan suggesting they were keen on spending the festive season with their extended family in Britain.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle missed another Christmas at Sandringham after fans hoped 2023 could be the year the pair make amends with the rest of the Firm.

King Charles III gave his second Christmas speech to the nation, but there was no mention of his youngest son Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle. The speech, aired on BBC One, showcased Buckingham Palace and highlighted the charity work done by Prince William, The Princess of Wales, and their children in 2023.

Despite being settled and happy in Montecito, California, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are reported to be thinking about a move to LA. The couple have suffered a number of setbacks this year after ending their Spotify contract early and being branded "biggest losers" of the year by The Hollywood Reporter. Omid Scobie's biography Endgame has also said to have caused a backlash for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle "might not be included" in King Charles III's Christmas tradition, according to reports. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who stepped down as senior royals in 2020 and moved to the States, have rarely returned to the UK since, and have been absent from every single Christmas at Sandringham since 2018.

move to Montecito, Calif. in 2020 — but wife Meghan Markle doesn’t want to make amends with the Royals.

The Royal Family will be gathering in Sandringham to celebrate Christmas together, but Prince Harry and Meghan Markle won't be joining in on the fun.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex weren’t shy about making headlines in 2023 as they continued to map out a life in California. Meghan Markle, an American actress who starred in the legal drama "Suits," became the Duchess of Sussex when she married Britain’s Prince Harry in 2018.The prince, 39, is the younger son of King Charles III. In 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back as senior royals and moved to California.

The Royal Family will arrive at Sandringham for their annual Christmas celebrations later this week, and this year's is set to be bigger than most.

“Gilded Youth: An Intimate History of Growing Up in the Royal Family,” told the Daily Express.The royals typically spend Christmas at Sandringham House, however, the Sussexes have been absent from celebrations for the last three years.Instead, they spent the festive season in their $14 million Montecito mansion with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.Quinn notes that as the furor over Omid Scobie’s explosive tell-all biography, “Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival” continues to unfold, a royal reunion is off the table at this time.“I don’t think Harry and Meghan will be able to overshadow Kate and William this Christmas, or at least not in the UK,” he told the outlet.

Meghan Markle has revealed there's one Christmas gift she won't be getting for her little Prince Archie, four, this year after he was inspired by a close family friend. During a recent Netflix Q&A for the newly released short film The After, Meghan shared some adorable details about Archie's personality. Meghan chatted with British actor David Oyelowo, along with close friend and photographer Misan Harriman in Montecito, California, where she lives with husband Prince Harry and children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Hollywood plan has reportedly "backfired" as crisis managers say they will have to work very hard to "recover" from the fallout of Endgame.

Rumours persist that Prince Harry is keen to reunite with his family this Christmas, as well as start to introduce his two young children - Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet - to the royal traditions he grew up with. Despite now living full-time in the US, the couple confirmed they wished for their children - who are sixth and seventh in line to the throne - to be styled as a Prince and a Princess and not miss out on their "birth right" as grandchildren of the monarch.

Just when it looked like the relationship between the Sussexes and the royal family might be thawing, it seems a new crisis may have aggravated the situation, and the battle rages on. First, Prince Harry joined his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, to lift the lid on royal life to Oprah Winfrey back in 2021, and more recent revelations in Harry’s autobiography Spare caused major upset for the royals.

told the Express.“Financial penalties or contractual repercussions tied to their titles within existing contracts could amount to millions, particularly if lucrative commercial deals are affected to the tune of millions a year in lost income should the worst happen, and the Sussexes lose their royal titles.”Boardman said that if Harry and Meghan’s royal titles are taken away from them, their standing in society would be “significantly” impacted.“While some may view it positively as a move towards independence, others may see it negatively as a departure from tradition,” he warned.“Meghan Markle’s popularity in the US is more likely influenced by factors beyond royal titles, such as her individual achievements and personal qualities, but the royal family turmoil would make headlines leading to a decline in popularity which could take years to recover from.”While the couple, who wed in 2018, retain their respective Sussex titles, they can no longer use their defunct HRH titles.Since quitting royal life in 2020, the couple settled down in Montecito, Calif., where they have remained since.The runaway royals sat down for a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, followed by the release of their six-part Netflix documentary, as well as Harry’s protocol-shattering memoir, “Spare.”The projects, in which they made bombshell revelations about the Firm, were followed by a lucrative Spotify.They signed a $20 million-plus deal between their Archewell Audio and the streaming giant in 2020.And in 2021, the pair had signed an estimated $100 million contract with Netflix.

The late Queen Elizabeth celebrated her Platinum Jubilee marking 70 years as monarch in June 2022, with the special occasion also being celebrated as she first met Harry and Meghan's daughter Princess Lilibet for the first time.

strip him of taxpayer-funded police security when he visits Britain should be overturned.“The UK is my home,” read Harry’s witness statement prepared for the trial. “The UK is central to the heritage of my children and a place I want them to feel at home as much as where they live at the moment in the US.”“That cannot happen if it’s not possible to keep them safe when they are on UK soil,” he added.Fatima read out a portion of Harry’s statement at the hearing, denouncing the ruling previously made by the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures when he and Markle, 42, walked away from the monarchy in 2020.“I cannot put my wife in danger like that and, given my experiences in life, I am reluctant to unnecessarily put myself in harm’s way too,” the Duke’s statement explained, alluding to the tragic death of his mother Princess Diana from a car crash in 1997.

Prince Harry claims his children cannot “feel at home” in the UK if it is “not possible to keep them safe” there, the High Court has heard. In a written witness statement prepared for his legal challenge against the Home Office over a change to his security arrangements when visiting, Harry, 39, said he and his wife Meghan Markle, 42, had been “forced” to leave the country in 2020.

three-day hearing in London kicked off on Thursday and while the red-headed royal was not in attendance, his attorney, Shaheed Fatima, argued against a decision made in February 2020 to strip him of taxpayer-funded police security when he visits Britain. The decision, made by the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC), occurred when he and his wife Meghan Markle stepped down as “working royals.”“This case is about the right to safety and security of a person.