Buckingham Palace reacted to the news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were stepping down as senior members of the royal family with a statement of its own.
“Discussions with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage,” the palace said in a statement. “We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through.”
Just a few hours earlier, Harry and Meghan made the unprecedented announcement that the two would be stepping back from their positions as “senior” members of the royal family.
The duke and duchess also added that they will be splitting time between the U.K. and North America and will be working toward 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,” the royals captioned a post on their Sussex Royal Instagram account. “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 couple added that “this geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.”
Amid the flurry of competing statements, BBC royals correspondent Jonny Dymond reported that “no other member of the Royal Family was consulted before Harry and Meghan issued their personal statement tonight, the Palace is understood to be ‘disappointed’.”
“This is clearly a major rift between Harry and Meghan on one part, and the rest of the Royal Family on the other,” he added.
Kensington Palace, where Prince William and Kate Middleton live, and Clarence House, home to Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, have yet to release statements on the matter.
HuffPost has reached out to Kensington and Buckingham Palaces for additional comment.
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