Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are pretty much on their own at this point.
They’re still nominally members of the royal family, but these days, the Sussexes aren’t even pretending that they have any close ties to the Windsors.
There were hopes that the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations would help heal the division between the American and British branches of the family — but that didn’t happen.
In fact, insiders have claimed that the Jubilee made things worse.
And so, Meghan and Harry are making their own way in the world.
The Sussexes are currently preparing for a September tour of the UK and Germany in an effort to further their humanitarian efforts.
Obviously, it’s an objectively good thing that the couple is using their platform to call attention to several charitable events, but the Queen and company might not see it that way.
Insiders believe the tour sends the message that Harry and Meghan are still working royals, which, of course, they have not been in over two years.
“The chutzpah of those two is unreal,” one Buckingham Palace insider tells the Daily Beast.
“Their proposal for being hybrid working royals was comprehensively rejected [at the Sandringham Summit], but it looks like they are just going ahead and doing it anyway.”
Royal expert Duncan Larcombe has echoed those concerns.
“To the casual observer, especially overseas and even more especially in America, this will look like Harry and Meghan are back doing royal jobs, especially given that one of the gigs Harry is doing is the WellChild awards for sick children, which he always used to do when he actually was a working royal,” Larcombe told the Beast.
“It will be incredibly high-profile. They will be all over the media, and you won’t be able to put a cigarette paper between what Harry and Meghan are doing and what Will and Kate are doing,” the journalist explained.
“It’s a calculated provocation on their part. They are seriously pushing their luck and risking the wrath of the Queen.”
Bolstering the belief that the Queen is not happy about Harry and Meghan’s plans for September is the rumor that she will not be making time for a visit with the couple during their time in the UK.
“There is formal work to be undertaken that week and some things cannot be moved,” says one insider.
Harry and Meghan are not attempting to create their own royal family, as some alarmist journalists have claimed, but they have continued to pursue their philanthropic goals despite the Queen’s refusal to allow them to stay on as “part-time” royals.
“The preference of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex was to continue to represent and support Her Majesty The Queen albeit in a more limited capacity…” reads a statement that was posted to Harry and Meghan’s website after that request was denied.
“With The Queen’s blessing, the Sussexes will continue to maintain their private patronages and associations,” the Sussexes continued, in one of their few public acknowledgements of the fact that they’re no longer working royals.
“While they can no longer formally represent The Queen, the Sussexes have made clear that everything they do will continue to uphold the values of Her Majesty.”
“It makes just as much sense for the queen and the rest of the royals to want to steer clear of the Sussexes,” journalist Christopher Anderson says of the current tension between the two sides.
“The Queen is unwilling to be seen as accepting any half-in, half-out role for Harry and Meghan. She said fish or cut bait—you’re either all in or all out—and she meant it.”
Harry and Meghan have not been stripped of their titles, but that idea has polled well with Brits, and the remaining royals reserve the right to do exactly that.
Will the upcoming, unsanctioned “royal” tour be sufficient provocation to bring about such actions?
Probably not, but it seems that Harry and Meghan are currently treading on very thin ice.