Last week, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry appeared at a joint engagement – the couple’s first from their new home in Santa Barbara. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex participated in a Zoom call with the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust to discuss using digital technologies as a force for good. This is the first time the couple have appeared together from their new home.
Earlier this month, a spokesperson for the Sussexes confirmed they had relocated from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara, slightly upstate on the coast of California in July.
The spokesperson said: “They have settled into the quiet privacy of their community since their arrival.
“They hope that this will be respected for their neighbours, as well as for them as a family.”
Despite reports claiming Meghan is enjoying life in California, many fans of the couple are saddened by their relocation and decision to step down as senior members of the Royal Family.
Harry used to be the most popular royal, after the Queen, and his wedding to the former Suits actress in 2018 became the most-watched television event of the year.
Unearthed reports, though, suggest the monarch was perfectly aware of the risks involved in over-exposing her grandson.
According to a throwback report by The Telegraph, when Prince Harry represented the Queen at the Olympic closing ceremony in 2012, there was excitable talk among public relations men that the Royal Family had made a conscious decision to deploy him more prominently to reach out to younger generations.
This was not the case, though.
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“As the Queen and the Prince of Wales demonstrate daily in their work.
“In relation to the Olympic closing ceremony, owing to others’ commitments and the neat fact that Prince Harry had met the Mayor of Rio [the next host city] recently, he ended up being the most senior member of the Royal Family present.”
The spokesman conceded that the Olympic closing ceremony was a more informal occasion than the opening, which the Queen had attended, but stressed that Prince Harry had himself been “keen to participate” in the event.
