The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Charities and Patronages

[Blog Real]

I'm sad about this Harry and Meghan decision, but it was already expected.

 

[PrincessofEurope]

Disappointing but hardly surprising

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Ive tried to give them the benefit of the doubt - but I'm sorry Harry's duty should have been to serve his grandmother, father and brother and I find his decision entirely selfish. No one is bigger than the Monarch.

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[PrincessofEurope]

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They are leaving a massive gap in the Royal family - an institution where the majority of the members are OAP's. This leaves so much on the shoulders of Willam and Kate, Edward and Sophie in the future years

 

[TLLK]

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Thank you iceflower for sharing the official statement regarding the Sussexes.

 

[Denville]

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They are leaving a massive gap in the Royal family - an institution where the majority of the members are OAP's. This leaves so much on the shoulders of Willam and Kate, Edward and Sophie in the future years

I think the RF will manage. There is a gap but I think the RF would rather take on more work.. than to rely on people like Harry and Megahn...

 

[Duchess_Watcher]

I think they should replace Meghan & Harry with Eugenie/Edo and Beatrice/Jack. That would be perfect.

 

[Mbruno]

I think the RF will manage. There is a gap but I think the RF would rather take on more work.. than to rely on people like Harry and Megahn...

I don't think there is necessarily a gap as the Windsors are a quite big family and there is no shortage of people who could take over H&M's patronages.


I think there is a sense of disappointment that Harry specifically (more so than Meghan) gave up on his duty to his country and ran away to a profitable private life in California. Although most Brits probably don't care anyway, as not that many people in the UK actually care about the Royal Family or follow them. Other than the Queen and, to a lesser extent the PoW and the DoC, who have official "state roles" so to speak, my impression talking to younger Brits is that the most common attitude is one of indifference vis a vis the Royal Family.

 

[Denville]

I think they should replace Meghan & Harry with Eugenie/Edo and Beatrice/Jack. That would be perfect.

Harldy. Its highly unlikely that these princesses or their husband would want to take on a working royal role.. and in any case neither is overly popular....

I don't think there is necessarily a gap as the Windsors are a quite big family and there is no shortage of people who could take over H&M's patronages.


I think there is a sense of disappointment that Harry specifically (more so than Meghan) gave up on his duty to his country and ran away to a profitable private life in California. Although most Brits probably don't care anyway, as not that many people in the UK actually care about the Royal Family or follow them. Other than the Queen and, to a lesser extent the PoW and the DoC, who have official "state roles" so to speak, my impression talking to younger Brits is that the most common attitude is one of indifference vis a vis the Royal Family.

I dont know if there's a sense of disappointment really.. Harry could have become very popular as a working prince.. He was liked and with a pretty wife who played by the rules, I think he would have had a decent popularity.. but Meghan clearly had no intention of learning how to play as a working princess and Harry was also clearly ambivalent.. and I think in a fairly short time the public just lost interest in them...I remember about a year ago when they were in the UK for the Commonwealth engagement.. I heard 2 guys talking about them and these 2 clearly had no interest in the RF and knew litlte about them.. They were just saying "So, he's going to give up his duties, is he ? Oh well. I wish I could give up my duties.." and just shrugging him off.

I dont know how much this was due to the papers being negative about Meghan.. but i think that goodwill towards Harry evaporated pretty quickly....
However I'm sure the queen and Charles feel a sense of disappointment that H could abandon his life of service for a life in California and making money... and they at their age probably do feel that to lose a young couple is a problem...

 

[Alisa]

The RF managed their patronages before the couple were given them and they will be just fine when they lose them.

They were miserable as royals being treated unfairly publicly by the press and according to them they weren't given the support they needed behind the scenes. No one deserves to be miserable so good for them that they've found happiness.

It's a win-win situation!

 

[Alisa]

Agreed. I think the Princesses are enjoying the best of both worlds. They can move independently, privately, make money, and still enjoy the spotlight due to their proximity to the Queen.

 

[yukari]

So let me summarize, this is the "gap" (patronages) the Sussexes have left for the RF to fill:
- Captain General Royal Marines
- Canadian Ranger
- Air Commandant of RAF Honington
- Commodore-in-Chief of Small Ships and Diving
- QCT (joint patron)
- Rugby Football Union/League
- The National Theatre
- Association of Commonwealth Universities

Do I miss anything?

(They will keep their private patronage such as Sentebale and SmartWork)

 

[_Heather_]

Eh. No great surprises here. The statements issued by both parties certainly speak volumes about the character of each. The snarky and catty statement from Harry and Meghan certainly was bitter and resentful but completely par for the the course from them. The statement specifically mentioning the fact that conversations were held with the Duke but leaving out mention of conversation with Meghan would certainly seem to imply that relations between the RF and Meghan are extremely strained if not non-existent. After all, this is certainly not a minor issue and does impact her as well. I found it interesting that they specifically chose to point out that this was done with input from Harry only.

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I'd venture to guess that the announced interview was certainly the catalyst for the early announcement as HM would naturally want to be very certain that she's made her position clear before these two purport to in any way still be associated with RF business and then air the dirty laundry to Oprah.

As for the patronages and charities, this really is as expected and is just the official confirmation. I suspect that after the antics of the last year they're probably not overly upset and are probably looking forward to seeing which member of the RF the queen decides to give the patronages to.

I still suspect that the next year or two will be quite interesting to watch. I'd not be at all surprised to find that there's quite a lot of change and upheaval yet to come on the Harry and Meghan front.

 

[Mbruno]

The RF managed their patronages before the couple were given them and they will be just fine when they lose them.

They were miserable as royals being treated unfairly publicly by the press and according to them they weren't given the support they needed behind the scenes. No one deserves to be miserable so good for them that they've found happiness.

It's a win-win situation!

If it is a win-win situation, why are the Sussexes saying that they would like to continue to be involved with those patronages/organizations, even if it is in an unofficial role?


Again, as I said before, their statement suggests to me that they are not happy about losing their honorary appointments and official patronages and would gladly try to reverse that situation if possible. I would guess that is particularly true for Harry, especially regarding his military appointments.

 

[PrincessofEurope]

I think in future years in the royal family when Charles is king it will be a smaller institution due to the current age of the working royals they aren't going to be around forever. And William's kids deserve the time and space as children/teenagers/young adults before coming to the working rota - THAT's when this gap left by Harry and Meghan will be felt.


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[Denville]

I think in future years in the royal family when Charles is king it will be a smaller institution due to the current age of the working royals they aren't going to be around forever. And William's kids deserve the time and space as children/teenagers/young adults before coming to the working rota - THAT's when this gap left by Harry and Meghan will be felt.

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Agree that it may well impact on George most.. as unlike his father he may not get some years of leading a fairly normal life, going to Uni, having an ordinary job etc....

 

[Kitty1224]

I think in future years in the royal family when Charles is king it will be a smaller institution due to the current age of the working royals they aren't going to be around forever. And William's kids deserve the time and space as children/teenagers/young adults before coming to the working rota - THAT's when this gap left by Harry and Meghan will be felt.


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I’ve felt that the current climate of the monarchy is starting to get smaller anyways despite Harry and Meghan.

 

[Mbruno]

I hink you'll have to go on hoping.. if they weren't Duke and Dss of Sussex would they be on Oprah? Not a chance...Would they get a deal iwth Netflix? No..
Agree that it may well impact on George most.. as unlike his father he may not get some years of leading a fairly normal life, going to Uni, having an ordinary job etc....

Well, I suppose George is definitely going to Uni as the days when future monarchs didn't do that are now long behind us. I am also pretty sure George will do some military service as that is expected from him. What might happen though is that he may have to take official royal duties at a younger age than his father, which, in a way, would make him more like Charles, who also got into that life earlier than William.

Of course, the Queen herself became Queen (of what at the time was still an Empire) when she was only 26 (?), so it is not like it is something unheard of in royal history (actually quite the opposite).

 

[_Heather_]

I think in future years in the royal family when Charles is king it will be a smaller institution due to the current age of the working royals they aren't going to be around forever. And William's kids deserve the time and space as children/teenagers/young adults before coming to the working rota - THAT's when this gap left by Harry and Meghan will be felt.


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I suspect that you're correct in the impact this will have on the Cambridge kids and their ability to live a more normal life for a few years. However, I also fully believe that even though Beatrice/Edo, Eugenie/Jack, and Louise/James won't be fully working members of the family, they'd be more than willing to pitch in and do a few things here and there to relieve a bit of the burden. Much like some of HM's cousins have done throughout the years. And, seeing as how some of those, especially Louise and James, are directly in that gap between William/Kate and the Cambridge kids, they might provide at least a part time buffer for a few years, especially if the duties they take on are in some way of personal interest to them.

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[Denville]

I’ve felt that the current climate of the monarchy is starting to get smaller anyways despite Harry and Meghan.

Yes Charles is almost certainly working towards having less working royals.. but for the present, that meant that the main working royals who are still there are all the more important. If he only has 2 sons, and wants to reduce the working family to himself, his consort and his sons and their wives, then that means that a lot of work has to be divided up among 6 people.. 2 of whom are aging...

 

[Sionevar]

Yes Charles is almost certainly working towards having less working royals.. but for the present, that meant that the main working royals who are still there are all the more important. If he only has 2 sons, and wants to reduce the working family to himself, his consort and his sons and their wives, then that means that a lot of work has to be divided up among 6 people.. 2 of whom are aging...

I can understand where Charles is coming from - he's obviously aware the public won't tolerate supporting a large number of royals these days - but reducing it to his descendants seems a little too much. Especially with Harry and Meghan now being out of the picture.

He and Camilla are aging, as you point out, and it will be years before the Cambridge children are up to taking on full duties. That's an awful lot to put on just William and Kate alone.

 

[Jacknch]

Please note that posts referencing the styes and titles of the Sussexes have been deleted as off-topic.

Nothing in today's announcement mentioned their titles. If that changes, then the matter be discussed at that point.

Further, posts making speculative inferences regarding Harry and Meghan's marriage and associated "what-if" scenarios have also been removed.

 

[Alison H]

I'd be surprised if the average rugby fan cared at all who their patron was. I suspect most if asked would prefer a former rugby player or England captain.

I will ask some members of my extended family who are mad rugby fans.

Mike Tindall would be perfect for the RFU, but, sadly, he's not a working royal!

 

[acdc1]

I saw a statement from Smartworks that Meghan is still their patron (I’m assuming in a private capacity since this was not given to her by the Queen). What other charities and patronages will they keep in a similar private capacity?

 

[TLLK]

I saw a statement from Smartworks that Meghan is still their patron (I’m assuming in a private capacity since this was not given to her by the Queen). What other charities and patronages will they keep in a similar private capacity?

For Meghan I believe that for now she'll retain Mayhew as well as Smartworks unless the charities decide to change this in the future.


For Prince Harry all of his remaining charities/patronages not mentioned in the statement ie Invictus, WellChild, and of course Sentebale.

 

[Kitty1224]

I can understand where Charles is coming from - he's obviously aware the public won't tolerate supporting a large number of royals these days - but reducing it to his descendants seems a little too much. Especially with Harry and Meghan now being out of the picture.

He and Camilla are aging, as you point out, and it will be years before the Cambridge children are up to taking on full duties. That's an awful lot to put on just William and Kate alone.

Exactly. I think I have read the royals have over 3000 patronages.

 

[Pranter]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1362794170147102723

We are delighted to confirm that The Duchess of Sussex will remain a Patron of Smart Works.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1362775448179126272

Mayhew

We're pleased to confirm that The Duchess of Sussex will remain our Patron.

 

[muriel]

Just read Harry and Meghan's statement and their little barbed reply to the mention of them not carrying out public service anymore in the BP statement. Meow!

Whilst I do not thinl the "little barbed reply" is either in good taste or achieves much, it is very much in keeping with the statements H&M have put out in the last year. Sad!

 

[QueenMathilde]

I don't get why Harry and Meghan seem to be defensive in their statement. This is what they wanted [...]

 

[Denville]

I don't get why Harry and Meghan seem to be defensive in their statement. This is what they wanted and they still have their titles.

I think ther's obviously still a lot of tension between them and the RF...and probably Meg was excluded from the talks...

 

[Pranter]

I think their statement is only barbed or defensive etc etc if you choose to read it that way.

Perhaps trying to read it as a neutral is a better idea.

LaRae