In four short years, Prince Harry and Meghan met, married, started a family, fought against tabloids … and stepped away from the royals.
Let’s take a look back at some of the high points — and challenges — of Prince Harry and Meghan’s lives as royals?
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex shocked royal fans in 2020 when they announced their decision to step down as senior members of the royal family. We look back at the milestones – happy and otherwise – that led up to their shock announcement in early January 2020.
July 2016: Set up on a blind date by a mutual friend in London, the two hit it off immediately and bonded over their shared interest in charity work.
November 2016: Harry’s communications secretary issues an official public statement, condemning the British press’s torment of his girlfriend.
Also read: These photos prove Harry and Meghan still share a great bond with Queen Elizabeth.
27 November 2017: Harry and Meghan announce their engagement. In an interview with the BBC, Meghan describes the couple’s journey as “authentic and organic” and says not following the British press meant she learnt everything she knows about Harry from Harry himself. Meghan says she was “naive” about what it would be like to be involved with a member of the royal family.
19 May 2018: The couple married at Windsor Castle, becoming the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
15 October 2018: The couple began a tour of the commonwealth and announce Meghan is pregnant with their first child.
March 2019: The couple split from Kensington palace and rumours of a rift between Harry and Prince William emerge. More than £2.4m of public money is spent on upgrading the Sussexes’ new official residence, Frogmore Cottage.
May 2019: The couple’s first child, Archie, is born. After a month The couple announce they intend to split from their combined charity with the Cambridges and start their own charity, Sussex Royal.
Also read: All the times’ Harry, Meghan, William and Kate were the ultimate fab four.
October 2019: The Duchess of Sussex sues the publisher of the Mail on Sunday after the newspaper published a handwritten letter she had sent to her estranged father. At the same time, Prince Harry launches an unprecedented attack on the British tabloid press and its treatment of his wife, saying he could no longer be a “silent witness to her private suffering”.
He wrote: “There comes a point when the only thing to do is to stand up to this behaviour because it destroys people and destroys lives. “I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”
8 January 2020: The couple announced they intend to step back as senior members of the royal family and become financially independent while splitting their time between the UK and North America.
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