Prince Harry admits he is ‘hurt’ by the Queen removing his royal patronages but ‘respects’ decision

The Duke of Sussex has said he was “hurt” by his grandmother the Queen stripping him of his royal patronages and honorary titles, although said he “respects” her decision.

Prince Harry, 36, would still be keen to support the organisations he’s worked for in the past. He told Oprah Winfrey, in an interview that aired on Sunday in the US, he would “still love for us to be able to continue to support those associations, albeit without the title or the role”.

Shortly after the CBS Meghan and Harry/Oprah interview was initially announced to the public, Buckingham Palace confirmed the couple would lose their royal patronages.

The interview had already been filmed before the Palace’s revelation, and Harry was aware this action could be taken. He said in the interview on Sunday “they will be removing everything”. To which Oprah asked, “Are you hurt by that decision?”

“I am hurt. But at the same time, I completely respect my grandmother's decision,” replied Harry.

“We're still doing it. We're still going to always do the work,” added Meghan.

Meghan, 39, claimed that Buckingham Palace decided to remove the patronages before knowing about the Oprah interview; “this decision that was made about patronages and all of that was before anyone knew that we were sitting down with you,” she said in the CBS interview.

Royal family members have been patrons for centuries for hundreds of charities, professional bodies and organisations, plus hold deep associations with the military. Organisations can be well-known or smaller and specialist in kind. Meghan, for example, will lose her patronages for the Association of Commonwealth Universities, and both Harry and Megan will no longer be president and vice president of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust.

Harry was accused, by some royal commentators, of blindsiding the Queen when he and Meghan decided to step down as senior royals. He denied the allegations, saying he has “too much respect” for the Queen not to have given her advance notice of their plan. He referred to the Queen in the Oprah interview that his grandmother was his “commander in chief”.

As part of stepping down as a senior royal, Harry lost his honorary military titles. The pair “formally retain their titles of ‘His/Her Royal Highness’ but no longer actively use their ‘HRH’s,” a palace spokesperson said at the time the decision was taken. They retain their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles.

The Sussex’s royal patronages were returned to Her Majesty, and will be redistributed to working members of the royal family.

“While all are saddened by their decision, The Duke and Duchess remain much-loved members of the family,” said the royal family in a statement after Meghan and Harry announced that they were stepping down as senior royals.

In the tell-all Oprah interview, the couple also discussed Meghan's mental health, how the couple got married days before the royal wedding took place, how the couple has been cut off financially from the royal family and are relying on inheritance from Princess Diana,  claims that their son Archie’s skin colour was a topic of conversation. The pair also announced they are expecting a baby girl.

The Oprah Winfrey interview with Megan and Harry airs in the UK at 9pm on ITV tonight (8 March).

Meghan and Harry met through a mutual friend in 2016, the couple got married in 2018 at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. In January 2020, the Sussexes announced that they would step down as “senior” royals and would live between the UK and North America, eventually finding financial independence from the British public. Harry and Meghan currently live in Santa Barbara, California.