Harry and Meghan 'hate' working royal phrase, friend says
A friend of Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has told the Sunday Times that the couple hate the phrase "working members of the royal family".
The friend called it "a really lazy phrase", in an account reported on 18 October 2026. Hello! Magazine The same friend said Harry and Meghan also object to "former royals" as misleading.
The argument, as put by the friend, turns on two different things. Harry is still a member of the royal family, the friend said, but he is not a member of the institution. That second term means the working structure around the monarch, the offices and staff that arrange and record official duties.
"Working members", in palace shorthand, means royals who carry out official engagements on behalf of the sovereign. The friend's point is that the label blurs family and job. It sticks.
The complaint follows a formal restatement of the couple's position. In September, King Charles III issued a letter to government departments, military officials and lord lieutenants — the monarch's representatives in each county — reiterating that Harry and Meghan are non-working royals.
The letter said the Duke and Duchess should be treated as private citizens with commercial and charitable interests. Harry and Meghan have accepted that status as non-working members of the royal family. PBS
That status is not new. Harry and Meghan first said in January 2020 that they intended to step back from roles as working members of the royal family. They confirmed the split in February 2021, telling the late Queen Elizabeth II they would not return. The non-working arrangement was agreed with her at that time. Reuters
Charles has made clear there will be no change to that position. Harry and Meghan remain private, non-working members of the family.
The row over words has surfaced during an extended stay in Britain. The couple were reported in August 2026 to be moving from California to the UK for an extended period with Prince Archie, then aged 7, and Princess Lilibet, then aged 5. Reuters They arrived with their children on 26 Aug. They will not live in a royal residence.
What makes this stand out is how much turns on a form of words. A signature in a letter sets the official status. A friend's objection in a newspaper tries to set the everyday language. Readers can weigh both for themselves.
