Prince Harry Wanted To Step Away From Life As A Royal Months Before He Announced His Official Exit

Months before Prince Harry made it official, it seems the former royal was already discussing his desire to separate from the royal family. In an interview with The Daily Mail‘s Weekend Magazine, Dr. Jane Goodall said Harry made a comment that suggested he wasn’t planning on staying in the royal family when she visited his family last summer.

“At the end [of the conversation] Meghan [Markle] came in to listen with Archie. He was very tiny and very sleepy — not too pleased to be passed from his mummy,” Goodall said.

Goodall said that she then had a chance to hold Archie, and she recalled making the baby do the queen’s wave. After she made the baby do the gesture, she remarked on the fact that it would likely be a part of his life in the years ahead.

“I suppose he’ll have to learn this,” she said at the time.

In response, she said that Harry suggested that wasn’t actually the case.

“Harry said, ‘No, he’s not growing up like that.'”

At the time, Harry and Meghan were still roughly half a year away from making the announcement that they would be formally stepping back from their roles as members of the royal family. The couple had, however, already declined to give Archie a formal royal title.

Following the January announcement that they would be leaving the royal family, Harry and Meghan formally stepped back as royals at the end of March. Around the same time, the couple also made the move from Canada, where they had been living since January, to Los Angeles, where it seems they will be living more permanently.

Previous reporting has suggested that Archie was one of the main reasons that the couple decided to step back from the family.

“Archie is the priority. It’s very much still about taking care of him and putting the family first. He’s a happy kid — he loves to laugh. Archie and Harry have such a good time together. And Meghan is a great mom. She’s very much about tending to him,” one insider told People of the couple’s life outside the family.

Now, the couple is adjusting to the realities around the pandemic and trying to respect social distancing guidelines. Another source told People that, despite the uncertainty around their future, the couple is excited to close out the transition period and begin their lives outside the parameters of royal life.