Harry and Meghan Performed Their Last Job as Royal at Commonwealth Day Service

Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle have made their final appearance as senior royals at the Westminster Abbey recently, where they joined Queen Elizabeth II and members of the royal family during the annual celebrations of the Commonwealth Day service.

The occasion was the last time, where Harry and Meghan are seen along with the entire royal clan, as the couple is flying soon into self-imposed exile in North America. 

The annual event also was the occasion where the two months royal drama officially ended, which began after the couple announced their plans to walk away from their roles as senior members of the royal family and into a world where they will earn and lead a simple life as ordinary people.

Co-author of Royal Fever: The British Monarchy in Consumer Culture, Pauline Maclaran, said, “(The Windsors) have lost a major attraction for the future”. 

The annual meet of the Commonwealth service is a major event for the royals because the 93-year-old monarch has led the organization for many parts of her life. She was made the head of the network of 54 countries in the year 1952 when she was only 26-years-old.

Queen Elizabeth has always considered maintaining good relationships among the Commonwealth member countries as her own priority for her political project, said Philip Murphy, the director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London.

Murphy also said, “It is not just what a lot of people would call Imperial nostalgia a yearning for the good old days of the Raj. The queen has always embraced an evolving Commonwealth and supported the notion of Britain as a multiracial country because it is part of a multiracial Commonwealth.”

At the annual service, Harry and Meghan took their seats inside the hall before the arrival of the monarch instead of waiting for the queen and walking through the church with her as they did during the celebration of the event, last year. Meanwhile, Prince William and his wife, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge choose to skip, as they have not participated in the traditional procession of the queen.

On their wedding day, the queen gave Harry and Meghan the titles Duke of Sussex and Duchess of Sussex. Now, with the end of the present month, the couple is no longer going to hold the royal titles as they pursue a new life of financial freedom in North America.