Harry and Meghan ‘may be worried they are being eased out of the Royal Family’ after they were moved to the bottom of the Palace website alongside the disgraced Prince Andrew, royal biographer claims
- Harry and Meghan ‘may be worried they are being edged out of the Royal Family’
- The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were moved to bottom of the Palace website
- They now sit next to Prince Andrew, below the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester
- Royal biographer Phil Dampier called the chance a ‘demotion’ for the couple
Harry and Meghan may be worried that they are being edged out of the Royal Family after they were moved to the bottom of the Palace website alongside the disgraced Prince Andrew, a royal biographer has claimed.
Links taking readers to pages dedicated to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had previously been placed around halfway down the page – below senior royals and above minor members of the family.
But after the webpage was updated following the death of the Queen earlier this month, Harry and Meghan have been moved down below the likes of Princess Alexandra and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.
Prince Michael of Kent and his wife Marie-Christine, neither of whom are working royals, have been removed from the page entirely.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex may be worried that they are being edged out of the Royal Family, an expert has warned
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been moved to the bottom of the Royal Family website alongside Prince Andrew
‘Harry and Meghan must be worried that they are slowly being eased out of the royal picture,’ Royal biographer Phil Dampier told The Sun.
‘King Charles seems to be hesitating on whether to grant Prince and Princess titles to Archie and Lilibet.
‘And the fact that they have been “demoted” on the Palace website is another indicator that they are not seen as working royals.’
It comes as King Charles is widely reported to be planning a ‘slimmed-down’ monarchy during his reign, believing the public does not wish to pay for an ever-expanding Royal Family.
Meanwhile, Princess Alexandra, the Duke of Kent and the Duke of Gloucester, the Queen’s cousins, all remain on the page as they are still working members.
The Kents have carried out more than 200 public engagements, all funded by the Prince’s own household as opposed to taxpayers.
The Sussexes were first moved down the page around 15 months ago, having previously sat below the Prince and Princess of Wales, to below the Wessexes and the Princess Royal.
It follows allegations that the Queen was forced to put her foot down over Megxit and told the Sussexes they were ‘either in or out’ at the crunch Sandringham summit where the royals decided Harry and Meghan’s future.
The explosive extracts of the forthcoming book, Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown by Valentine Low, were published by The Times.
Mr Dampier think that King Charles and the Prince of Wales may also ‘feel the same way’.
Mr Low wrote that it was the monarch herself who felt that unless the couple were willing to follow the rules which apply to all working royals, they would ‘not be allowed to carry out official duties’.
‘There was a very clear view: you can’t be in and out,’ a source told Mr Low. ‘And if you’ve got such clarity of view, it’s very difficult to say, ‘Why don’t we go 10 per cent this way instead of 20 per cent?”
This meant that compromise was taken off the table by the Queen, the author said.
Mr Dampier believes that the website change will make it clear the Sussexes are not working royals ‘and can’t pose as semi-official royals’.
It is understood that the website changes now reflect the roles within the Royal Family as opposed to the line of succession.
Royal biographer Angela Levin said that the change shows what Harry and Meghan are ‘not doing’, and how it is valued in the Royal Family.
The couple are still waiting on whether their two children will be given titles of prince and princess.
Following the death of the Queen, the Sussex children are entitled to prince and princess and the HRH titles as grandchildren of the monarch.
But despite William and Kate’s titles having been updated to the Prince and Princess of Wales, Archie and Lilibet’s have not yet changed.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: ‘Updating live on a website doesn’t quite work. We will be working through updating the website as and when we get information.’
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