The Duke and Duchess of Sussex say they’ll step back as “senior” royals and work to become financially independent.
In a personal statement, which reportedly even caught the Queen by surprise, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle say they plan to split their time between Britain and North America.
Buckingham Palace says the issues are complicated.
ABC News’ Europe correspondent Samantha Hawley reports from London.
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In This Story: Megxit
On 8 January 2020, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, announced on Instagram their decision to “step back as ‘senior’ members” of the British royal family; splitting their time between the United Kingdom and North America, and to become financially independent.
The event was dubbed Megxit (a portmanteau of the name “Meghan”, the word “exit”, and a play on the word “Brexit”) and the term became adopted globally on social and news media, spawning various Internet memes and “Megxit” merchandising.
Megxit led to a meeting of the royal family on 13 January, dubbed the “Sandringham Summit”. On 18 January, an agreement was announced whereby the couple would “no longer be working members of Britain’s royal family”, and would not use their “Royal Highness” styles.
Collins English Dictionary added “Megxit” to its online edition as a top-ten Word of 2020.
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