How Harry and Meghan plan to defy King’s warning they’re not ‘working royals’

Prince Harry and Meghan no longer feel bound by a key part of the Megxit deal they struck with the Palace in 2020, after their taxpayer-funded security was removed, The i Paper understands. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are stepping back from the terms of the six-year-old Sandringham Agreement, signed off by the late Queen, according to a source close to the couple. At the time, senior palace officials indicated the couple would follow the standards expected of working royals, a set of values known as the Nolan Principles. These commit those bound by them to avoiding political controversy, supporting UK Government policy on the international stage, and not using royal status to further business interests. The couple are said to draw a distinction between upholding the late Queen’s personal values and the institutional obligations that came with the agreement. “They are shared familial values,” the source added. Shorts This determination to build a new life for themselves in Britain on their terms, even if it conflicts with the Palace’s stated desire for them to be seen as “private citizens”, stems from the fact that they no longer receive taxpayer funds, the source added. Earlier this week, Harry and Meghan hit back at the Palace’s definition, saying they see themselves as “public figures”. “He’s still the King’s son. There’s no getting away from that,” the source said. “They are working royals, but they don’t work for the institution any longer.” Harry, who is fifth in line to the throne, will begin his new public life in Britain with a series of charity engagements this month, first for Save the Children, followed by two Invictus Games engagements. He is also due to attend the annual WellChild Awards for inspirational seriously ill children. “I’d be very keen to see what was codified at the time of the Sandringham Agreement,” the source added. “But it was at a time when the Duke and Duchess were still in receipt of public funds for security and there was financial support from his father.” Meghan and Harry are said to still uphold the late Queen’s personal values (Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty) Taxpayer-funded security still in limbo The couple’s request for their police protection to be reinstated is under consideration by the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (Ravec), a group of senior police officers, Government officials and courtiers that advises the Home Office on protective security. The source also suggested that Harry and Meghan were free to speak out on political issues and criticise foreign leaders such as the US President Donald Trump or his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert at Royal Holloway, University of London, said the couple had slowly veered away from the spirit of the Sandringham Agreement over the past few years. “I always interpreted it as they would keep separate the things they did commercially and their work for their charities,” he said. “But there’s been an overlap. I’m thinking of when Meghan met survivors of the Bondi Beach attack (in April) and shortly afterwards you could buy the same designs on a clothes app.” The Duchess faced public backlash because she is an investor in the app where the image of the outfit she wore on that day was posted. The platform then replaced that particular image. In an interview with Women’s Weekly, Meghan explained she had joined the platform in order to give fashion designers and brands the “credit” they deserve, saying: “Even if you don’t say a word, you can convey something in what you wear.” Separately, her publicist responded to the Bondi image controversy, saying: “OneOff does use AI technology and sometimes pulls from Getty and Meghan’s team works with them to make sure they’re using approved photography and correcting as needed.” Prince Harry and Meghan visited survivors of the Bondi Beach attack while in Australia in April (Photo: Jonathan Brady/AP) In April 2025, Meghan also faced criticism for using her HRH title on a gift basket sent to a friend with the royal title printed on a card. Meghan later explained she had been under the impression that she was only prohibited from using the title for commercial purposes. Prescott, a law lecturer, predicted any further dismantling of the principles agreed at Sandringham would spell problems for the couple’s relationship with the royals. “If they want a better relationship with the rest of the Royal Family, it’s probably not the best idea to veer away from respecting the values of the late Queen and the monarchy as they stand.” Political interventions Harry has already shown that he is not afraid to speak out on political issues since the family’s police protection was removed in February 2020. In April, he used a speech in Ukraine to urge President Trump to honour commitments to the country and criticise Putin more directly than would have been possible when he worked for the monarchy. The intervention came just days before his father, King Charles, embarked on his successful US state visit, in the wake of the fallout from the UK’s refusal to support Trump’s attack on Iran. Harry’s return to Britain raises the potential for a heightened level of awkwardness for the Palace. “Is he going to start criticising Donald Trump? I can’t see that happening but he can if he wants to,” the source close to the couple said. “Harry has every right to, as you and I do.” The Duke is due to travel to New York to attend a two-day meeting on September 22-23 hosted by Bill and Hillary Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative, on issues including climate change, democracy and artificial intelligence. The couple’s desire for a free rein is unlikely to go down well at Buckingham Palace. Earlier this week a senior royal aide, the Lord Chamberlain, Lord Benyon, wrote to Government officials, the military and lord-lieutenants, advising them that the Sussexes were private citizens and not to be treated like royalty. Palace sources insisted nothing had changed and that the terms of the Megxit deal remained intact. “Nothing has changed but everything has changed,” the royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said. According to Fitzwilliams, the future flashpoints in their relations with the royal family include the question of the King’s attendance at Harry’s 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham, the 30th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death next August and the Sussexes’ closeness to Earl Spencer, whose book about his sister will be published this month. ‘They will do what they like’ There is also the risk that when the Sussexes start undertaking public engagements the controversy surrounding them will steal the limelight from the official work of the Royal Family. “I think they are going to do what they like,” Fitzwilliam added. In the UK, Harry and Meghan, who still have a charity and film and television production operation based back in California, are being helped by a small team including bodyguards, a nanny, a couple of event organisers and a communications director. The team is likely to be expanded as the couple gear up their work here. For the moment, Meghan is focusing on settling them into their new home in the Cotswolds and the children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, into their new school. She is expected to restart work with some of the charities she represented eventually, but in the meantime has her As Ever brand of food and lifestyle products, which may sell better even in the US market now that the brand is based in the fashionable Cotswolds. Returning to Britain has also given her a chance to restart her career in acting. A spokesman for the couple did not respond to a suggestion that she is still in talks about taking a part in the third series of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix television crime drama The Gentlemen.However, the source close to her said: “A return to acting is very much on the cards.” Buckingham Palace declined to comment.