After the "bombshell" of an announcement hit the Internet that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are stepping down as Senior Royals in order to concentrate more on the issues that matter most to them (and be less of a financial burden on the British public), I felt that a second "defense" would be in order.
Why? Well, because I know that there is going to be one hell of a bill to pay for this decision. The tabloids and the Internet Opinionists are already going down on the couple like a ton of bricks for daring to be their own people and - heaven forbid - enter the 21st century to try and tackle the issues that we are facing now, instead of the ones that were in vogue 100 years ago! Why, she even drives herself to where she needs to be!
I don't really understand it. For years, these vultures have scrutinized and criticized the House of Windsor as a burden on public finances and now that Harry and Meghan won't be that any longer, they criticize some more.
The point is that Meghan and Harry, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are pretty much their own people, with some decent money coming in from sound investments and inheritances. They don't need the Royal Grant money. Sure, HRH Prince Charles will probably help support them, but that's in his "Dad" capacity (and I applaud him for that!). They now have the opportunity to earn their own way, anyway, and that's in all likelihood what they'll do, whether it be by doing voice-overs for Disney movies or simply maintaining a monetized blog.
And that brings me to my second major point.
Prince Harry is 35 years old. He won't do anything that he doesn't want to do. So the idea that his wife "influenced him" to "throw away the Monarchy" is so funny that it borders on the ludicrous. He did what any good husband should do - he protected his wife and son at all costs. It's a principle that few people realize comes directly from the Bible (Ephesians 5) and one more reason for me to respect the man. He realized that living under a magnifying glass hurt his marriage so he moved out from there. If a common man would resign from a poisonous job in order to save his marriage, why not royalty?
In fact, I have the sneaky suspicion that now that the Sussex Royals (I'm keeping the name - I like it!) are "private citizens", they will have more leg room with which to forward their respective favorite causes. By all accounts, Meghan has always been social-minded, even as a teenager, as has Harry. The only obstacle that they both faced up to now was the massive mountain of Royal Protocol and red tape that had to be followed to the letter. Now that that is out of the way, many more people would be benefiting from their patronages and the publicity that the couple would bring to the various causes that they support and will most likely add to their already long lists.
And royalty or not, they are still celebrities. They still have the support of the friends and family that did not hope to cash in on the "royal connection" (Insert Meghan's father and half-sister here!) and I think they will do excellently at whatever they attempt. The only difference now is that there are more laws and legal remedies that can be used to protect their privacy and they can rightfully light some fires under those who don't respect their personal boundaries.
Their critics are few, albeit noisy. On closer scrutiny, most of the people who have issues with the couple have their own poisonous hidden agendas. That includes Meghan's father. Now that he can't cash in on his daughter's "royalty" any longer, he has a lot of really negative things to say. In my personal uninvited opinion, she would be better off severing ties with him and his other kids completely. One doesn't need people like that in your life, even if you're tied to them by blood. She seems to have enough other edifying relationships to offset that loss.
Finally, Prince Harry has been to Southern Africa on so many occasions that he is considered to be part of our family already, a fact proven that he was actually welcomed into the South African rugby team's locker room after their world cup victory, and given a beer to boot! The impact that the couple made on their tour through the country last year was absolutely amazing to witness and almost everyone that they met spoke about how approachable and down-to-earth they were, and how they actually listened and even shared some of their own ideas and experiences. I reckon they'll be welcomed here with open arms when they return.
Good luck, Harry and Meghan, on your new path!