In case you missed it, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are officially through with royal duty. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s communications team issued a statement in conjunction with their last day as senior members of the royal family explaining how the inner-workings of their operation will change—and we couldn’t help but notice one interesting phrase.
Yesterday, the couple’s coms officials said in a statement, “Effective March 31, 2020, no other Royal communications representatives act on behalf of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, including Palace spokespeople, Household representatives nor Royal sources. Going forward, Buckingham Palace will no longer comment/guide on Sussex related enquiries.”
It makes sense that their team is shifting as the duke and duchess make the transition to private citizens (albeit very famous ones). But the whole “royal sources” part of the memo is pretty intriguing.
We’ve all seen tabloid pieces that attribute slivers of information to a “royal source.” Most of the time it’s safe to assume it’s a friend of a friend of a friend of the couple’s who heard something from someone, but this statement seems to suggest that sometimes “royal sources” come from within the palace walls. And since the statement specifically names “palace spokespeople,” it’s clear they don’t mean sanctioned people in charge of the couple’s outgoing information.
