Meghan Markle interview 'headache for Queen' says Bond

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Meghan Markle, 39, and Prince Harry, 36, shook the monarchy to its core when they announced their desire to step down from their senior royal roles in January 2020. While at the time it seemed the couple wished to quit royal life entirely, Meghan has since claimed she and Harry had wanted to become like other non-working members of the Windsor family including Princess Eugenie, 30, and Princess Beatrice, 32.

Speaking to Oprah in a bombshell interview about her time as a senior royal, Meghan revealed how she and Harry didn’t want to abandon royal duties but wanted a change in status instead.

The Duchess said: “We never left the family and we only wanted to have the same type of role that exists, right?

“There are senior members of the family and then there are non-senior members.

“And we said, specifically, ‘We’re stepping back from senior roles to be just like several …”

Meghan added: “I mean, I can think of so many right now who are all… they’re royal highnesses, prince or princess, duke or duchess… who earn a living, live on palace grounds, can support the Queen if and when called upon.

“So we weren’t reinventing the wheel here. We were saying, ‘OK, if this isn’t working for everyone, we’re in a lot of pain, you can’t provide us with the help we need, we can just take a step back. ‘

“‘We can do it in a Commonwealth country’. We suggested New Zealand, South Africa . . .”

When Meghan refers to other royals “who earn a living on palace grounds” she is likely to be alluding to the Queen’s grandaughters Eugenie and Beatrice.

Beatrice and Eugenie are 10th and 11th in line to the throne but neither of them are working royals.

While the sisters have careers independent from The Firm, they both have royal residences and hold a number of honorary charity patronages.

During the interview, Meghan also revealed she had known Princess Eugenie before she ever met Prince Harry.

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Meghan told Oprah: “Eugenie and I had known each other before I had known Harry, so that was comfortable.”

The Duchess added: “We’re friends with them as a couple.”

Eugenie is the first member of the Royal Family Harry and Meghan spent time with after they began dating.

While Meghan and Harry hoped to strike a half-in-half-out deal with the Queen that would allow them to continue serving the crown as non-senior members of the monarchy, such an agreement was deemed impossible by The Firm.

Last month it was confirmed the Sussexes would not return to their roles royals and would have to return their royal patronages and Harry his honorary military titles to the Queen.

Touching on the Queen’s decision, Harry said: “I am hurt. But at the same time, I completely respect my grandmother’s decision.

“I would still love for us to be able to continue to support those associations, albeit without the title or the role.”

Princess Eugenie became a mother last month after giving birth to a baby boy.

She and her husband Jack Brooksbank are currently living in the Sussexes UK home Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, which Harry and Meghan have loaned to them.

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