The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s departure as working members of the Royal Family remains one of the most talked-about and shocking royal moments in recent years. Though for some months afterwards there was speculation that they could return, this was officially put to bed in a statement by Buckingham Palace in February 2021.
The couple relocated permanently to California with their son Prince Archie in 2020 and according to Meghan, she and Prince Harry actually had “no plan”. They spent the time “healing” in the wake of their royal exit and just wanted to “get through” the next few years.
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These revelations emerged during a conversation between the Duchess and Alyson Shontell, the Editor-in-Chief and Chief Content Officer for Fortune. Taking to the stage at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington DC, Meghan expressed doubts that she’d have had the “bandwidth” to formulate a long-term plan back then.
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“I think five years ago was a very different situation for all of us,” she said, as per the Daily Mail. “Archie was so little and I had just gotten pregnant with Lili around that same time. So we were nesting. Nesting and healing. And also, I don’t know if I had the bandwidth at that time to think about what the “big picture” dream was. There was no plan.”
Instead, their mentality was, “let’s just get through these next couple of years”. The former working royals wanted to “create community” in their new environment, which Meghan said was “always so important” to her and Harry.
(Image credit: Photo by HENK KRUGER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Her remarks didn’t directly reference the Royal Family, though the suggestion that they took some time “healing” in 2020 could be seen as a subtle indication of the toll she feels royal life took on her and Prince Harry. Since they stepped back, Harry and Meghan have only visited the UK together twice and Archie and Lilibet just once.
In September the Duke of Sussex had his first face-to-face meeting with King Charles in over a year at Clarence House. Following this, he got candid in an interview with The Guardian about how he would like his kids to spend time in his home country, saying, “This week has definitely brought that closer.”
Even so, it’s clear that the Sussexes are firmly rooted in California and this isn’t likely to change anytime soon. Meghan and Harry’s desire to build a “community” has sparked the launch of multiple ventures, including the Duchess’s As Ever lifestyle brand.
Meghan shared, “I think it was probably most people’s assumption that if I was going to go into business it would be fashion and beauty. But those five years at home – I wasn’t running around wearing beautiful outfits, I was probably in Birkenstocks and sweats like the rest of us, especially during Covid, or just barefoot at home, but I was making a lot of jam.”
Jam-making became her “passion project” that she turned into a business. It couldn’t be more different from her life as a working royal and she has ambitions to take it to the next level and get her As Ever projects on shop shelves in the future.
“I think my intention would be to have really bespoke, small retail collaborations, do some interesting ones as well in global territories,” she said, before going on to later add, “And so when we think about larger retailers, I think in the next couple years, that would make sense.”