20 Reasons Meghan Markle's Exit Is a Blow to the Royal Family

Right now, the British monarchy only has a handful of working royals. William and Kate's kids are too young to do official duties, Prince Phillip recently retired, and Prince Charles is currently out of commission. Without Meghan and Harry to share the load, the other family members will have to do a lot more events and tours to pick up the slack. It's going to quickly get exhausting.

In 2019, Prince Harry was voted everyone's second favorite royal right behind Queen Elizabeth. Now, it was of course also Harry's decision to step back from royal life -- Meghan didn't force him to do anything. But it's a big blow to the monarchy's morale that such a beloved member of the royal family will no longer be present at royal functions or even in the country at all.

As Vanity Fair reported, Prince Charles had already slimmed down the monarchy by quite a bit beginning in 2012. That's when it was decided that only core royals like William, Kate, Harry, himself, Camilla, the Queen, and Prince Phillip would really represent the face of the monarchy. Now Harry and Meghan have left a gaping hole in an already small group of people. Charles never planned for this to happen.

Meghan and Harry's Instagram announcement about their decision to leave their senior royal positions was unusual. It prompted a quick response from Buckingham Palace that tried to downplay things as being in the "early stage." But all these conflicting messages really did was confuse people and make the royal family look disorganized. Their internal struggle was playing out right in the public eye.

It doesn't make the monarchy look good that Meghan didn't even last two years as part of the royal family. The couple's speedy and unprecedented exit makes it seem as though it was so unbearable to be royals that they simply had no choice but to cut and run without really even seemingly clearing things up completely with the Crown. That's a hard PR nightmare for the monarchy to work through.

Ever since Harry and Meghan first split from Kensington Palace, there have been rumors that William and Harry were not on good terms. Now the tension between them has reportedly multiplied with Harry "choosing" Meghan over his brother, and leaving William and Kate with the bulk of the royal work. It's going to be awfully hard to fix a seemingly damaged relationship from across an entire ocean.

It's been reported that Meghan and Harry will still travel back to the UK from time to time. Any time they do, all the focus will be on them and it will be a media zoo. Conversely, any time they're not at a major royal event -- like the balcony for the Trooping the Colour, for example -- their absence is likely to be mentioned. Whether they're there or not, they'll continue to pull focus from the rest of the royal family.

The Sussex Royal Instagram account has over 11 million adoring followers, and some of the fans may feel like their beloved couple was slighted by the royal family and had no choice but to leave to gain some independence. Those fans could turn on the monarchy in support of Meghan and Harry, which could in turn hurt the royal family's public image.

The Queen is not just Queen of England. She presides over the Commonwealth of many countries including Canada and Australia. Members of the royal family are expected to tour these countries every once in a while, and Meghan and Harry were key parts of that initiative. With three children of their own, William and Kate can't be expected to do all that traveling alone. As such, many places used to seeing a royal presence may get skipped down the road.

At first, the Sussexes were planning to split their time between Canada and the UK. But Meghan and Harry recently relocated to Los Angeles, California, where Meghan's mother lives. The US is not one of the Commonwealth nations, while Canada is. The Queen probably felt better about Harry at least being in Canada if not England. But now he's in the US instead.

Meghan broke a lot of ground in her short time as a royal family member. She wasn't afraid to show affection for her husband in public, she demanded things like her birth be a private matter, and she was open and honest about her struggles. For the monarchy to survive, it needs to grow and change. Meghan was helping usher in a new era, but sadly now that era is coming to an abrupt halt.

As David Kaufman wrote for the New York Post, many biracial people finally felt seen by the royal family when Meghan joined. For once, the monarchy was starting to reflect the actual citizens it represents. During their international trips, people who looked just like the duchess got to see themselves represented by her. People will always look up to her no matter where she goes, and it's certainly not Meghan's job to make the monarchy more diverse, but the people are losing out in a big way with her stepping back from such a powerful position where she could have continued to do so much good.

Express reported that Meghan's work ethic will be one of the most-missed things about her. She genuinely cared about what she was doing for the causes and charities she supported. As royal contributor Omid Scobie said, "It is really about doing the work, keeping in touch with the charities in between these engagements. It's that work ethic that will really leave a huge void in the Royal Family."

And speaking of those causes and charities that Harry and Meghan supported, what's to come of them now? There have been reports that Harry plans to continue supporting some of his prime causes, but it seems unlikely that he and Meghan can't shoulder the full charity workload they did as full-time working royals. Perhaps those causes left behind will be folded into the other royals' commitments. 

But it's a concern, for sure.

Harry and Meghan are already planning on starting their own charity, but because they're no longer doing it under the tightly scheduled royal umbrella, they may have conflicts. Perhaps Meghan will pick a cause close to what Kate is already doing and split focus from fans. Or maybe Harry will show up at an event on the same day his dad does a separate event. Guess which one the press is more likely to cover? When they all worked together, events were spaced out accordingly to give each its moment in the spotlight. This new situation seems sticky, to say the least.

Pretty much no one in the world can relate to being a royal except other royals. And since the Queen, Prince Phillip, Prince Charles, and Camilla are all much older than William and Kate, they really only ever had Prince Harry as someone their age who also understood. When Meghan came along, she became another person who got it. But then they left, and now William and Kate are more isolated than ever.

There's no denying that the British media was particularly cruel to Meghan. Now that she's no longer around, that vitriol may make its way over to William, Kate, or anyone else in the royal family. That's not to say that Meghan should have stayed to deflect and absorb hate, just that it wouldn't be unprecedented for the media scrutiny of the remaining royals to further intensify. There's less of them to report on now, and so the press can stay more on top of the ones who are left.

All of the royals work hard to shine a light on important causes, but there's a reason that Meghan was getting so many Princess Diana comparisons. Meghan was really getting to the heart of issues of gender, race, and equality with her charity work, and it reminded many of how groundbreaking Diana's own advocacy work was. Meghan will continue supporting causes in her new foundation, but some of her work may go unnoticed without the royal platform.

One of the biggest problems with Harry and Meghan's unprecedented departure is that it may encourage other young royals to do the same. Being in the monarchy comes with a lot of rules and regulations. Who would want to be part of that? What if Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis grow up and decide they also don't want anything to do with the royal family? The monarchy could eventually shatter.

There are a lot of political reasons why the royal family would be sad to see Meghan and Harry go, but first and foremost it must also be sad for the royals to see members of their own family move so far away. The Queen is a proud grandmother, Prince Charles spent a lot of time with his son, William and Harry used to be so close, and everyone seemed fond of Meghan. On a personal level, they will likely be sorry to see them go simply as anyone would be of their family members.