It’s been over a month since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped down as senior members of the royal family.
The move is unprecedented, and the only time the royals dealt with a comparable situation was when King Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry an American actress back in 1936.
But while there are many similarities between the two situations (frankly, we’re surprised Buckingham Palace hasn’t issued a ban on American actresses), in a number of important ways, Harry and Edward’s circumstances are very different.
For example, the royals were not quite as heavily scrutinized as they are today, and they were far less concerned with what the public thought about them.
As a result, Edward and his wife were able to self-exile to France and continue to live on the family dime.
Conversely, Harry and Meghan plan to be financially independent in their new lives in Canada.
At first, it looked like this would be a very easy thing to do.
It looks as though Harry is planning to partner with Goldman Sachs, and he and Meghan’s and public images are worth millions.
In all likelihood, they will never know a day of financial struggle as long as they live.
But in an act of glorious pettiness, Queen Elizabeth II just it made it slightly more difficult for the couple to support themselves by barring them from using the “Sussex Royal” name in their branding efforts.
“In many ways this is inevitable given their decision to step down, but it must surely come as a blow to the couple as they have invested everything into the Sussex Royal brand The Queen would have had little choice, however,” a source close to the situation tells The Daily Mail.
“The Sussexes’ original plan – of being half-in, half-out working royals – was never going to work. Obviously, as the Queen has made clear, they are still much-loved members of her family,” he added.
“But if they aren’t carrying out official duties and are now seeking other commercial opportunities, they simply cannot be allowed to market themselves as royals.’
And what kind of branding changes will the Sussexes be required to make?
Well, it seems they’ll have to start online.
The news comes just weeks after Harry and Meghan launched a website to coincide with their entry into private life.
“Welcome to the Sussex Royal community, your source for information on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex,” reads a message on the site’s homepage.
We guess that’s gonna have to go — probably along with a lot of other plans to use the Sussex name on trademarked properties.
We suppose this serves as a lesson to anyone else who might be planning to mess with the Queen — though she be but old AF, she is fierce!