When Meghan Markle first joined the Royal Family, she wanted to use the late Princess Diana as a template for her approach to her duties, but on a part-time basis, a royal author has claimed. Tom Quinn's upcoming, explosive new book - Yes Ma'am, seen by the Mirror - includes exclusive insight from insiders about how Meghan hoped to approach her position as a working royal before she and Harry decided to call it quits and leave life in the UK behind.
Members of staff for Meghan and Harry revealed to the author that Princess Diana was a big inspiration for Meghan when she entered into royal life and that Meghan said she wanted to "finish" what her late mother-in-law "started". They also noted that the Duchess of Sussex really would have preferred to undertake their royal duties only on a part-time basis - something that both Harry and Meghan have said themselves.
"Meghan once said, 'What Diana started I want to finish,' and we took that to mean she wanted to become a sort of globetrotting champion of the poor and the marginalised," the insider claimed. "She has managed to do this to some extent, but she really wanted to do it as a princess and with the full backing of the royal family but on a part-time basis," they added.
Harry and Meghan have both made it clear that they always wanted to keep representing the crown in some capacity, but it was decided at the Sandringham Summit in 2020 that this wouldn't be possible. When the couple released their shock statement in January 2020 that they wanted to stop being full-time working royals, they said they wanted to "carve out a progressive new role" and gain "financial independence".
"After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen," the statement said.
Harry also made it clear in his memoir Spare that the couple would have preferred a part-time role within the institution, but claimed that for the senior courtiers who were working for his late grandmother at the time would never have been prepared to accept that, and in fact had already prepared a statement announcing a full break before the summit had even concluded.
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