While much royal news coverage and commentary has been focused on questions about Kate Middleton’s health and whereabouts, the royal family quietly made a move to further distance themselves from former working royals Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Like the rest of the family’s members, Harry and Meghan both had their own individual biographies on the royal family’s website, royal.uk.
However, the site was recently updated to remove Harry and Meghan’s individual bios and give them one joint bio. They are now listed simply as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
There is also a foreword that reads, “As announced in January 2020, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have stepped back as working members of The Royal Family. The couple married in St George’s Chapel, Windsor on 19 May 2018 and have two children: Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.”
Along with the intro statement, their joint bio page includes a section about Harry, Meghan, and finally, their decision to step away from their duties. The page states, “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not be returning as working members of the Royal Family, but ‘remain much loved members of the family.’”
Harry and Meghan’s children were also affected by the website change—albeit more drastically. Archie and Lilibet had their biographies removed altogether.
The Palace has not commented on why this change was made.
They have spoken before about website changes though. According to a statement that Express received in August 2023, Buckingham Palace said that “the Royal Family website contains over five thousand pages of information about the life and work of the Royal Family. Following the death of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, content has been revisited and updated periodically. Some content may be out of date until this process is complete.”