A PRINCELY SUM Harry's sacrifice for love

LEFT WITH NO OPTION, HE TURNS HIS BACK ON HIS HOME

- Judy Kean

Just weeks after dropping their bombshell news about stepping back as senior royals, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, have begun their new life on Vancouver Island in Canada.

But while Meghan has been able, to some extent, to slot back into the life she left behind when she married her prince, Harry is having to adjust to an existence that’s not quite what he imagined when he announced that he and his wife wanted to carve out “a progressive new role within this institution”.

Instead of being able to fully support the Queen while working to become financially independent, as they wanted, they have lost most of the privileges and perks of royalty, including their Royal Highness status. Harry has forfeited his role as Commonwealth youth ambassador along with his honorary military appointments, which royal sources say will be gut-wrenching for the former army officer.

“Our hope was to continue serving the Queen, the Commonwealth and my military associations, but without public funding. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible,” said Harry in a speech at a UK charity dinner just before he flew to Canada to join his wife and their son Archie (nine months).

Harry (35), who has known what his path in life would entail since he was old enough to grasp the concepts of royalty and duty, is now having to find his feet and work out exactly what his future will hold.

American Meghan, who lived in Canada for seven years while shooting the TV series Suits, will no doubt find it easier to adapt to their changed circumstances as she was part of the royal fold for only several years. Royal life is all Harry has ever known, and though the freedom of no longer being a senior royal is what he wanted, the reality of his new life may take some getting used to.