Meghan Markle has flown the royal coop and escaped to Canada.
Prince Harry and wife Markle profoundly rocked Buckingham Palace and sent shockwaves through the U.K. on Wednesday when they announced plans to “step back as senior members of the Royal Family” and become financially independent.
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Now Markle has reportedly gone to Canada to reunite with their 8-month-old son, Archie, who was being cared for by a nanny and Markle’s friend Jessica Mulroney. It was unclear where, exactly, Markle was in Canada, but Mulroney lives in Toronto.
British tabloid The Daily Mail reported the couple’s plan to spend more time together in North America has “simply astonished” royal aides.
“Meghan may stay there for the foreseeable future and Harry will not be apart from his wife and son for long,” the tabloid reported.
READ: Harry and Meghan just basically quit the royal family
Royals reporter Chris Ship, however, reported Markle might soon return to the U.K. with Archie as the family tries to work out the couple’s role moving forward.
The statement Wednesday from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex — which reportedly wasn’t pre-approved and blindsided the royal family — signaled they intended to split their time between different continents.
“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,” it read.
Markle and Harry have had, at best, a tenuous relationship with the tabloid press that’s followed their lives incessantly. The endless scrutiny and the constraints of the royal life seem to be a key reason the couple want to ditch the monarchy.
“I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces,” Harry wrote in an October open letter about “select press.”
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The Mail described Queen Elizabeth being “hurt and furious” that Harry and Markle had actually gone through with the plan, despite the queen begging them to delay the announcement.
The couple had been mulling the plan for months, which “palace officials regard as a rogue operation,” the New York Times reported. The paper also reported that Markle and Harry felt they were forced into announcing their decision when they learned the British tabloid The Sun was preparing to publish a story on the plan.
Cover: Meghan Markle, then -fiancee of Britain’s Prince Harry, attends an Anzac Day dawn service at Hyde Park Corner in London on April 25, 2018. (Photo by Tolga AKMEN / various sources / AFP) (Photo credit should read TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)
