Prince Harry: Rod Liddle hits out at Duke over statement
The Duke of Sussex ended his nine-year stint at the charity when he and wife Meghan, 39, were stripped of their remaining titles by the Queen when she made Megxit permanent last week. The pair caused an uproar when they quit the Royal Family in 2020 and fled to Canada, then America, claiming they wanted to enjoy a private life.
But since settling in California, they have signed lucrative deals with Netflix and Spotify which could net them more than £100million.
The pair, who are currently expecting their second child, have been accused of using their royal connections to land these deals.
This prompted the Queen to remove their remaining patronages last week and confirm that they will never carry out official duties for the Crown again.
As Harry, 36, stood back from the charity, its chairman Sir Rodney Walker said the Duke had been a “wonderful” patron since 2012.
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Prince Harry has been praised for his work with the London Marathon (Image: SPOTIFY)
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will take part in a “tell all” interview next week (Image: Getty)
He added: “We are immensely grateful for his unstinting support and interest in our work over the past nine years.
“Everyone at the trust and the wider London Marathon family sends our best wishes and thanks to the Duke for all that he has done for the trust.”
During his tenure, the Duke was a regular presence at the London Marathon, presenting prizes to the winners of both the elite races and the mini-marathon races as well as meeting runners, volunteers and staff.
He was also one of the official starters of the 2017 marathon, alongside the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, when the Royal Foundation’s Heads Together campaign was the event’s Charity of the Year.
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In his final year, the Duke recorded a video message to wish runners good luck ahead of the first-ever virtual London Marathon.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit as senior working royals in March 2020 and it was confirmed last week that they would not be returning as working members of the Royal Family.
The couple were informed they would have to relinquish their remaining formal roles with the military, arts, Commonwealth and sporting organisations after talks with the Queen and senior royals.
Harry, a former Army officer with a passion for the military family, will lose his roles as Captain General of the Royal Marines, Honorary Air Force Commandant of the Royal Air Force Base Honington, and Honorary Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Naval Commands’ Small Ships and Diving.
The pair were stripped of their remaining patronages by the Queen last week (Image: Getty)
The Duke will no longer be patron of the Rugby Football Union and the Rugby Football League, roles which he took over from the Queen, and he has also had to relinquish his role as president of The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust.
The Duchess, a former actress in the hit US-drama Suits, has lost her patronages of the prestigious Royal National Theatre and the Association of Commonwealth Universities, and also has to give up her role as vice-president of The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust.
Despite being effectively kicked out of the family, Harry insisted in an interview last week that they were “stepping back rather than stepping down”.
He added: “It was never walking away. It was stepping back rather than stepping down, there was a really difficult environment as I think a lot of people saw.
“We all know what the British press could be like, and it was destroying my mental health, I was like this is toxic.
Prince Philip remained in hospital as Megxit was officially annouced (Image: Getty)
“So I did what any husband and what any father would do is like, I need to get my family out of here.”
He added: “And as far as I’m concerned whatever decisions are made on that side, I will never walk away.
“But my life is public service so wherever I am in the world it’s going to be the same thing.”
Harry also said that Netflix smash-hit The Crown – a fictional account of the life of the queen and her family – was “loosely based on the truth”.
“It gives you a rough idea about what that lifestyle, what the pressures of putting duty and service above family and everything else, what can come from that,” he said.
A hotly anticipated “tell-all” interview between the pair and Oprah is due to be screened next Sunday (March 7).
It has already been revealed that the chat show host was free to “ask anything she wanted” – prompting rampant speculation the pair could reveal embarrassing details about other royals.
