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This week speculation that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would leave the joint charity the Royal Foundation, which they run with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, has been widespread after a royal expert claimed the ‘Fab Four’ are officially splitting up, just over a year since the four royals appeared on stage for their charity’s first Q&A forum in 2018.
While nothing has been confirmed by the Palace yet, new reports have emerged, with all signs pointing towards the Cambridges and the Sussexes going their separate ways.
The ‘Fab Four’ attending a Christmas Day service in 2018. (Image: Getty)
In a tweet on Thursday, royal correspondent Omid Scobie revealed Prince William and Harry have held a Royal Foundation trustees’ meeting at Kensington Palace.
“Expect official news on the future of the organisation, which will see the Cambridges and Sussexes go their separate ways, very soon…,” Omid writes.
Speaking about the imminent split to The Sun, royal expert Duncan Larcombe says the move proves Harry and Meghan are more eager than ever to “do things their own way”, but admits it is strange, particularly after Meghan has only recently the charity as a patron, after marrying into the royal family in May last year.
“It does seem odd. Why separate when you are both backing the same causes? Whether this is a sign of a rift, this is certainly a sign of a division,” Duncan told the news outlet.
In February 2018 the four royals, dubbed the ‘Fab Four’, made their first and only joint public appearance together as part of the Royal Foundation Forum, which was supposed to be an annual event.
“It’s clear that Meghan and Harry were initially prepared to slot in under the wings of William and Kate but that’s not how they feel a year on,” Duncan suggests.
“Harry is going to forge his own path with Meghan. For years, before he met Meghan, he was the royal gooseberry standing behind William and Kate.
“He’s now a full-time working royal with his wife, he wants autonomy as to what he does, how he does it and how she does it, which is a definite change to how it was 12 months ago.”
Harry and Meghan are said to be eager to have their own autonomy and forge their own path, separately from William and Harry. (Image: Getty)
A palace insider told The Sunday Times that Prince William was also known to be quite controlling and that was definitely the case before Meghan had joined the charity, which William and Harry had established together in 2009, however now that Harry has Meghan, he’s eager to do things his own way.
According to The Sun, royal aides have said that this split will by no means end the two royal couples from working together on projects in the future, and while it may be a blow for the Royal Foundation, it could prove beneficial for the charities they separately support.
The Sussexes split from the Royal Foundation is just the latest of several separations for the ‘Fab Four’, with Harry and Meghan officially announcing their split from the Kensington Palace household before moving in April this year to Frogmore Cottage at the Windsor Estate.
The separation saw the split of staff and the creation of a new Instagram account to share the couple’s royal engagements and personal milestones, having previously shared the official Kensington Palace social media accounts with the Cambridges.
The split also saw their office move out of Kensington Palace, to Buckingham Palace, with the couple appointing a head of communications for their household, Sara Latham, who happens to be the former senior advisor on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 US presidential campaign.
Neither Buckingham nor Kensington Palace have confirmed the split, but we can expect an announcement of the future of the Royal Foundation very soon.
