The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have pushed back against a formal description of them as "akin to private citizens", after it emerged that the Lord Chamberlain wrote to government departments, the military and lord lieutenants setting out their status, at the King's wish.
The letter from Lord Benyon, the most senior official in the royal household, describes the couple as "akin to private citizens with commercial and charitable interests". Its purpose, Palace sources insist, was practical: to give public bodies clear guidance on how to handle the Sussexes' visits, invitations and ventures. Its effect has been anything but quiet.
'We remain public figures'
The couple responded through the Telegraph, insisting that they remain public figures and describing the characterisation as "very damaging" to their work and their security. A friend went further in the Sunday Times, arguing that "working members of the royal family is a really lazy phrase", adding: "They are members of the royal family, and they work."
The distinction matters more than it might seem. How Whitehall, the armed forces and the King's representatives in the counties treat the Sussexes flows directly from how the Palace describes them, and the couple have long argued that their public profile brings public obligations from the state, not least over protection when they are in Britain.
The Row at a Glance
- The Lord Chamberlain, Lord Benyon, wrote to government departments, the military and lord lieutenants at the King's wish.
- The letter describes the Sussexes as "akin to private citizens with commercial and charitable interests".
- The couple told the Telegraph they remain public figures and called the description "very damaging".
- A friend told the Sunday Times: "They are members of the royal family, and they work."
- The letter emerged days after the couple's first joint UK visit in years, to Nottingham.
Nottingham in the background
The timing is piquant. The letter came to light only days after Harry and Meghan completed their first joint British engagement in years, a visit to Nottingham on Thursday in which they toured the Community Recording Studio in St Ann's, met volunteers tackling food poverty at the Himmah Hub and accepted cupcakes from young entrepreneurs at Epic Partners, before leaving fifteen minutes early to be home for the school run. The crowds were warm, the coverage broadly friendly, and the question of who, officially, they were visiting as hung pleasantly unasked. It has now been asked.
Echoes of Sandringham
The phrase "commercial and charitable interests" carries an unmistakable echo of the Sandringham Summit of 2020, when the late Queen's statement first sketched the hybrid life the couple would build. Their proposal to be half in and half out was rejected then; the Lord Chamberlain's letter is the clearest formal statement since of how the institution now categorises them. Buckingham Palace declined to comment beyond confirming that the letter was intended as practical guidance, not a rebuke.
Separately, the Telegraph reported claims from industry figures that Meghan had been "used" by Netflix in the making of the second series of The Gentlemen, a suggestion friends of the duchess dismissed as sour grapes from rivals. Taken together, it made for a weekend in which the Sussexes dominated the front pages without leaving Montecito, a state of affairs the Palace's letter was, perhaps, designed to prevent.