But again, this is only an issue if you’re looking at it from the British viewpoint. If they’ve already decided they’re willing to give up their titles and position, move away and start working (which sounds likely), then additional publicity coming from this way of announcing it will help them.
My British MIL can clutch her pearls, shake her head and tightly declare through pursed lips that this simply isn’t how things are done, but I suspect most of the rest of the world is shrugging their shoulders and thinking “interesting. Let’s see what they do…”
Separating in this way gives Harry and Meghan the advantage of being clear that they initiated the split (that they weren’t pushed out for bad behavior or other BS issues) so they’re left in a good position when it comes to their future business endeavors. If anything, their move to be independent will be viewed as positive and something to respect in the US.
Edited to add: And if they’re planning to work or do business in the US, Americans don’t generally understand (or care too much about) titles anyway. No matter what the official decision is on the titles, most Americans will think of the couple as Prince Harry and Meghan. NBD. Only a big deal to the British, who Harry and Meghan have apparently decided aren’t their peeps.
I think that the Sussex’s advisors told them to look at the Clinton Foundation as how they will be able to market themselves and make money.
Whether or not that is a great model remains to be seen. But I don’t see the Sussex’s doing a tell all, I (hope) suspect that as part of them separating from the royal family, they will have to sign a NDA.
From everything I’ve read, Prince Charles and Prince William are more hurt than mad about this. Prince Charles in particular has given the couple quite a bit of money to the couple. It’s been said that the Sussex’s have been given more than the Cambridge’s to fund their lifestyle. And that Prince Charles doesn’t understand as he has really tried to make his son and wife happy.
It’s been said that the Cambridge’s have only met Archie a couple of times and are sad that their kids won’t have that close family relationship with their cousin.
Say what you want, but from all accounts all of the queen’s grandchildren are friendly and close.
They can, and they may if they retain their titles.
Think about Sarah, Duchess of York. She lost her HRH in the divorce, however, she retained her title, Duchess of York; most people don’t even know the difference.
After the divorce, Sarah went out and marketed herself, under the Duchess of York moniker, to the edge of bankruptcy. If I recall correctly, she did a stint for Weightwatchers, she sold juicers on QVC, and, the biggest money maker, she sold access to her ex-husband - Fake Sheikh anyone?
ETA
I am wondering why they left the baby in Canada? I wonder if they had brought him home (back to UK), whether they feared they may have been prevented somehow, from leaving with him.
Do they want to be liked the way Sarah was liked? If so, I guess they can do whatever they want. If their financial independence relies on Charles doling out money, they probably have to behave better.
It’s really pretty fascinating imho. With a reported net worth of between 30-35 million, they have options.
They could buy a lot of acreage on any continent, live under the radar, and disappear from the public eye, running a farm, ranch, nature preserve… They don’t have to earn if they are willing to live simply. (lol- simply, that is, compared to the rest of the world, on the income of tens of millions)
If they want to earn the same income they have had as part of the royal family, how can they do that in a tasteful manner? Is it even possible to earn it in a vulgar manner? The royal income comes from inherited land. They are remnants of the landed gentry.
Who makes that kind of income on their own? Sports stars? Entertainers? A few tech/retail entrepreneurs? Finance guys? Former politicians?
Harry is friends with former U.S. president Barack Obama, and will consider adopting the Obamas’ post-White House career model, some royal observers say. Barack and Michelle Obama reportedly signed an eight-figure deal with Netflix NFLX, -0.20% to produce high-brow historical, biographical and social-justice programming with their company, Higher Ground Productions.
Probably because they aren’t much older than my own kids, also dealing with work/family/life balance, (though on a completely different scale) this story really gets to me. I’m rooting for them.
Judging from those headlines in the story showing the comparison of how Meghan is savaged for the exact same things Katherine is praised for, I suspect they’ve already correctly judged that no matter what they do, they’ll be treated badly, so they might as well move on to other places and do things they’d rather do. They haven’t been treated especially well, even when they did follow the rules. Can’t blame them for deciding to no longer play the game.
I suspect they will have received advice that living in the US would bring all sorts of undesirable immigration and tax consequences. For example, Harry would need to file for an immigrant visa and become a permanent resident paying tax on worldwide income, and their son would have to get a US passport (which may have been avoided to date, not least because it would prevent him from holding a royal title). In fact their son may not be able to come to the US at all without doing that if they don’t have some sort of diplomatic status.
I expect that living in Canada will provide options to avoid those sorts of problems, but there may still be serious limitations on Harry’s ability to do any activities for compensation in the US and on their son’s ability to come to the US at all.
The US tax system is based on worldwide income, wherever you live, for any citizen or permanent resident, unlike most other countries which only tax income from within the country and generally don’t tax you on foreign income if you live elsewhere.
If they don’t spend more than 183 days per year in Canada then it’s likely that Canada won’t tax their foreign (ie UK source) income.
My understanding is this lawsuit is based on the Sunday Mail publishing excerpts of a letter MM wrote to her father, Thomas. I understand it was private correspondence between MM & her father, however, once her father received the letter, unless it was specifically marked ‘not for distribution, confidential etc.’, is the letter not his to do with as he chooses? I don’t understand.
This is not my are of law, so this is not a legal opinion. I don’t know what UK law is—and I’m not sure UK law applies–but the law in the US is more complicated. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salinger_v._Random_House,_Inc.
And note this passage:
This is why the Daily Mail is claiming the letter it published only contains facts; IMO that argument is preposterous.
Moreover, Meghan alleges that the Daily Mail edited the letter and the edits changed the meaning. IF that is true–a big if–then in the US Meghan would have a strong argument.
Meghan is also arguing she had a right to privacy. The DM is basically arguing she has no right to privacy because she’s a public figure.
BTW, this argument came up with Salinger again. In the early 70s, a freshman at Yale named Joyce Maynard published an essay in the NY Times titled something like “An 18 year old looks back at life.” It created a minor sensation and she received a lot of letters. One of them was from JD Salinger. She replied and the letter turned into a full blown correspondence. Eventually, she dropped out of Yale to live with Salinger. The relationship ended a few years later. At age 45, divorced with 2 kids, Maynard auctioned off the letters. Their value was diminished by the fact that by then everyone was fully aware that buying the letters from Maynard did NOT give the purchaser the right to PUBLISH the letters, just to own them. (The purchaser, a huge Salinger fan, returned the letters to Salinger.)
In any event, IF the case were in the US, Meghan’s case would certainly withstand a motion to dismiss.
Off topic, but I have possession of the letters of a fairly famous, deceased, poet (if such a thing exists anymore) that were written to a family member. But I’ve been advised that I probably can’t quote from them. Alas.
^^^ @alh Which only shows you how times have changed. She sold those letters for around $150,000 – that would NOT put three kids through college today.
@alh $30M will be more than sufficient for us commoners to live on forever but probably not to support a royal lifestyle. It sounds like Harry got about 5M pounds last year from Charles alone. $30M may last for a couple of years.
