Meghan Markle & Prince Harry Rejected ‘Life On A Pedestal’ As Not Worth Living, ‘New Yorker’ Writer Suggests

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry famously decided they were going to step back from their royal duties to have a more private life. Now, a new report from the New Yorker reveals part of their motivation to get away from the royal world was that they didn’t want to spend their lives living on a pedestal.

Meghan and Harry were vocal about their feelings towards the amount of scrutiny they faced in the media while living in the United Kingdom. When they decided to leave the trappings of royalty behind to focus on becoming financially independent and to concentrate on their charity work — according to the New Yorker’s Rebecca Mead — they were also making a statement about life under such scrutiny and whether the benefits outweighed the challenges.

“They were saying, in effect, that life on a pedestal is not a life worth living—especially when being regularly knocked off that pedestal, sometimes for the slightest sign of human fallibility, is an essential part of the job,” she wrote.

Meghan apparently found royal life challenging. Prior to marrying into the royal family and being named Duchess of Sussex, she was able to speak her mind about political issues and weigh in on social matters. As a senior member of the royal family, that kind of expression was frowned upon.

During one of her first jobs in her official capacity, Meghan sparked a scandal when she commented on Irish politics.

“Nor is the job as easy as it looks, as Markle discovered during one of her first official engagements, at a garden party in Dublin; she endured a brief scandal after it emerged on Twitter that she’d told an attendee she approved of Ireland’s recent decision to legalize abortion,” Mead wrote.

The media has speculated about what drove the couple to ultimately decide to move part-time to North America and step out of the royal public spotlight. Some have suggested they weren’t able to deal with the scrutiny that came with the job. Others said they were bored or perhaps exhausted by infighting within the royal family.

But Mead argued the couple wanted to live a more authentic life. She wrote that cutting ribbons at hospital openings wasn’t a fulfilling existence for the couple. She postulated that Meghan was the one who convinced Harry to set aside the “stiff upper lip” that is the hallmark of British royalty to be more open about his feelings and emotions.

For now, the two are making their home in Los Angeles, though the move may not be permanent, as The Inquisitr previously reported.