Queen Elizabeth Announces Prince Harry And Meghan Markle No Longer Working Members Of British Royal Family; Analysts Assess Possible Challenges For Prince Harry And Meghan Markle In Wake Of Split With Royal Family
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Stephanie Elam, CNN, Hollywood.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.</s>FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We're getting breaking news out of Buckingham Palace. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are no longer working members of the royal family. Queen Elizabeth saying in part, quote, "Harry, Meghan, and Archie will always be much loved members of my family. It is my whole family's hope that today's agreement allows them to start building a happy and peaceful new life." CNN Royal Correspondent, Max Foster joining me now with the latest. Also joining us, CNN's Richard Quest. Max, tell us more about what you are learning about this separation between Harry, Meghan, and Archie, and the royal family.</s>MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: I think it's a family crisis, having Meghan, who, which is how we will know them now, because they are no longer their royal highnesses. They do keep those titles, but they're not going to use them anymore. So we've got Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, but effectively Harry and Meghan. They've left as working royals. They're no longer part of the working monarchy. They no longer represent the Queen at engagements, which is what senior royals do. They are giving up, Harry is giving up, his military positions, which is a big climb-down for him. They are hugely important to him. Also, they are serving as youth ambassadors for the commonwealth, which was another key role for both of them, but they're giving up those roles because they are effectively roles that represent the Queen. So this is a big moment. The couple were hoping to retain, I think, those roles, and some of the roles that they currently carry out, and then they wanted the freedom to step out into the private world and sign commercial deals, and earn an independent income. Clearly, over the last week, negotiations have gotten to the point where there has to be the Queen, it must have been her saying you are either in or you're out, and they have chosen out. So they are no longer working members of the royal family, and they are going to repay the public funds used to renovate their cottage in Windsor, Frogmore cottage, which is $3 million, about 2 million pounds. And the reason for that, is that a lot of attention for the couple really started when they were criticized for not allowing cameras, for example, into Archie's baptism when public money had been used to renovate the home. They weren't allowing enough public access when they were receiving public funds. So they are clearing their name on that, and they are saying that we have a right to a private life because not only are we not taking public money anymore, we are giving back the stuff that we have taken as well. So they are now private individuals. They can do what they like, and they can sign commercial deals. None have been signed yet, but they must be looking toward the type of deals that they will be signing. There are many more complications to come, because they have to now find a way to manage their citizenship, their tax arrangements, and various other things in transferring over to Canada. It is very interesting that they won't be representing the Queen in Canada. They will be very much private individuals.</s>WHITFIELD: And then do we know anything about those living arrangements, of how much time they would be spending in Canada, and in England, do we know anything about whether that is spelled out in the arrangement from her majesty?</s>FOSTER: We don't know that, and that is being negotiated with the Canadian government. These things are carrying the correspondence, and she has been telling me they can stay up to 180 days without a visa, and then they would have to leave. That doesn't mean that they wouldn't be able to come back, though. I think that they sorted all of that side of things out. I think this was about the extraction of the Sussexes from the senior royal position. Next, we're going to be looking at how they're going to redefine themselves outside the royal brand. And I think there is an issue, it is clearly an issue with the name of their website, the name of their brand, which is currently Sussex Royal. They can't be seen to be capitalizing on the royal brand. This is something that has been built up over 1,000 years. They don't own that. So they are going to have to probably take that away. And it was interesting to hear the Queen refer to them as Meghan and Harry, and I think this is an absolutely liberating moment for the Queen who has been really challenged, I think, over the last couple of weeks, and actually recent months, seeing her grandson, who she adores, very unhappy, but having to work with him as a boss, as a grandmother.</s>WHITFIELD: And what does that say?</s>FOSTER: They'll leave the firm, the royal firm, and they're allowed to be themselves, and she can talk to them as grandson and his wife. And I think this is about the family rebuilding their relationship and resetting, and hopefully one that establishes, this has been the fallout with the two brothers, they can rebuild their relationship as well. I think this is a very positive moment, and it really does speak to how the Queen is just phenomenal in these moments.</s>WHITFIELD: In fact, that is my question. What will Britain say this reveals about the Queen, that she would acquiesce, yet at the same time put her foot down on certain things in this arrangement?</s>FOSTER: So she has made it clear in a previous statement, which was very heartfelt as well, where she was very clear, she said she wanted them to remain as working royals. I think they were caught out by the initial statement from the Sussexes, and they have all had to understand that over the last week. And as they have worked through that, they have clearly come to the conclusion that there is no hybrid role that can be created in the way the Sussexes had wanted. They either have to be in or have to be out. You can't have military positions representing the Queen and signing commercial deals which may potentially have some sort of link with an arms manufacturer, for example. I think that they sat there and they really worked that through, and I suspect that the Queen said to the Sussexes, what do you want to do? Do you want to be in or out? And they have chosen out, which is an extraordinary moment. But it is also, as I trying to describe earlier, I think this is also a peace treaty. She's reaching out to Meghan, who is clearly particularly unhappy in her position, and she said the Queen said she was proud of Meghan. So this is about them all moving forward, the slate is clean, and trying to create a brand of positivity around this. And I think the Queen has managed that, and I think it is really interesting to see how William, Charles, and the Queen have come together and tried to be as constructive as possible to give Harry what he wants. He isn't entirely giving up public money, arguably, because Prince Charles, as heir to the throne, has the right to the Duchy of Cornwall, which a huge estate, brings in millions of dollars a year. He funds Harry's current lifestyle largely from that. And Prince Charles has committed to continue paying that money to Harry. So there is a transition. Will he keep paying that? Who know? Will William keep paying that when he becomes heir to the throne will be another question as well. But for now, I think they've managed this transition.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes. I want to bring in Richard Quest. Richard, as we're talking about, the columns of the gain, in the columns of gains, the check marks, the column of losses, the check marks, and we're talking about the Queen, and Harry, and Meghan, and Prince Charles, but you can't talk about Harry without talking about Prince William. And I wonder what Britons are thinking about their relationship, the severing of ties of Harry and Meghan and the royal family, what does that do to these two brothers, because you cannot leave the image of seeing these two brothers walking behind their mom's casket years ago. No matter what transpires in their lives, you always think about these two brothers like that.</s>RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and I was on the streets of London and actually saw that with my own eyes, the brothers walking past the coffin of their late mother, walking behind the coffin of their late mother. This is a royal divorce in the sense of the official side between their duties as royals, and they are no longer going to be that. They, as Max said, they had a choice, and they have chosen not to do it. And the Queen, to a certain extent, on the official side, played hardball. She has taken, she has said you're not using the titles, even though they are keeping the titles, which is interesting, because of course Diana lost her royal highness title when she divorced Charles. But they are keeping the titles, they just won't use them. There will be restrictions on what they can do, obviously, and they can't represent the Queen. But the statement, as Max said, it is very clear that you're still part of the family. You can't divorce the family as such.</s>WHITFIELD: There was a tenderness in that statement coming from the Queen.</s>QUEST: Do you remember what the Queen said before Diana's funeral? She looked in the camera and said, what I say to you, I say as your Queen and a grandmother. Now, so we are getting another example of that here. There's constant reference by her majesty that there is a human family element to this that has to be dealt with. But, but you don't stay on the throne for as many years as she has without recognizing -- the Queen is steeped in duty, and her duty requires her to protect the monarchy and the royal family, circle the wagons. So Harry, you wish to do that, go with God's blessings, but you can't have the cake and eat it. And I suspect they were hoping to have a lot more leeway in this. It will be very messy, don't get me wrong. When they go to Canada, I have got visions of them ending up like the old duke and duchess of Windsor, former royals, straggling along as a-list celebrities with Paparazzi watching wherever they go, but not royal in the sense of actually having the title or indeed being senior working royals.</s>WHITFIELD: So Richard, I asked Max this about transition. While Prince Charles is going to help finance them during this transition until it's official and the deal is cut in terms of they're not receiving any royal money, the transition might be a little bit easier for her because she came from a world of celebrity and making money, and being kind of an ordinary citizen in a celebrity kind of fashion, whereas he has only known what it is to be a royal, and now he has to transition. Do you see that the transition for him is going to be far more complex, difficult, come with pains, greater than what she might endure?</s>QUEST: I think that will be a very difficult element to the transition when it comes to no longer having his military responsibilities. It will suddenly dawn on him that, yes, you can have -- the Queen has said they can continue with their private patronages, so the work that the duchess, Meghan, might do with women's centers, for example, that can all continue. The work that Harry does with the Invictus Games, that indeed will continue. But there will be this anomalous position. They're still going to get money from Prince Charles. They will have to work out, at the end of the day, if they're going to be spending part of their time in Britain, part of their time in Canada, who is paying for those business or first-class airline ticks across the Atlantic? It will have to be Charles' money. It will have to be private money. It may even be money that Harry has that his mother left him. Of course, there were millions there. It could be Meghan's money from when she was a working actress. She may go back to that in full time. But fundamentally, the taxpayer in Canada and the taxpayer in the United Kingdom will be saying, we are not footing the bill. And that is something the Queen and the royal family will be very careful to respect.</s>WHITFIELD: Wow, and Max, do you think, even though Harry and Meghan, you know, I guess really started this the ball rolling, they wanted independence, they wanted freedom, is it your feeling that Harry will be thinking, or maybe even now is thinking about all that he has just gained, or is he digesting this with all that he may have lost in terms of his departure of the royal family?</s>FOSTER: I think he feels utterly liberated. He has always felt so constrained by the palace system. He's always lived slightly in the shadow of his brother. I think he's utterly in love with Meghan. He is thrilled to be a father. He is doing it in Canada, which is a country he loves and just being himself. All he wants is some anonymity. I spent some time in Afghanistan, he served in Afghanistan and I spent some time at the base there where he was, and you see him in the military. And he looks, Richard was talking about how important his titles are to him, and it is because he respects his mother, he is the head of the armed services. It is also that in the military he was able to be himself, and to have some mates who spoke to him in a normal way. It wasn't reverential. And most importantly wouldn't share the conversations. Where I have even seen Harry most upset in the past is when a story is leaked which is true, and he gets so upset about that. That sort of compromise he really, really struggles with, which is why he often has issues with what is in the papers as I was describing earlier on. Right now, he is able to be himself, and he's able to argue that he deserves his private life. He has always made the argument that he has a right to a private life despite being a public figure. And the tabloids argued against that, because he received public money. Now he has a right of a private life and he can handle the media in whatever way he likes, and there are members of the media who he likes and publications he likes, and there are members who he doesn't like, and he's now only going to work with the ones he does like and he is going to collaborate with them as opposed to deliver stories as he has been doing in the past. I think this is a huge moment for him. And there is a really interesting moment when the interesting moment when the duchess first carried out her public engagements with Harry, and I saw a real change in him. He will talk to you about how he is very uncomfortable walking into a room of people he doesn't know, he is incredibly uncomfortable public speaking, which doesn't come across at all, because he is one of the best public speakers and he is one of the best people in a room full of people he doesn't know. But he is actually incredibly uncomfortable in those situations. And the duchess, who is an actress, who uses those skills brilliantly, is comfortable in those situations. And there is a bit of a narrative building early on which I very much argued against which was that the duchess was storming into these engagements and taking over them. Actually, that wasn't the case at all. It was Harry feeling really comfortable with the fact that someone else was taking a lead in those situations and he could just be himself.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes, you used the word earlier, liberated.</s>FOSTER: Where he can have some anonymity and she becomes the star. I think actually that's his nirvana, really, if he can rebuild those relationships with his own family, of course.</s>WHITFIELD: Max Foster, Richard Quest, we're going to talk some more about this. Thank you so much for now. We're going to take a short break, but first, just a reminder that tonight on CNN, a special report that we've got for you, Alisyn Camerota hosting it, "The Royal Revolution, Harry and Meghan," tonight at 9:00 p.m. And of course we'll be right back with much more on this breaking news of what Richard was saying is really a royal divorce.