'We Never Walked Away': Prince Harry Insists He & Meghan Markle Wanted To Only 'Step Back,' 'Not Step Down' From Royal Duties
In a fun-filled but candid talk with James Corden, Prince Harry insisted that when he and wife Meghan Markle left the royal family in 2020, they had no intentions of making it a permanent divide.
"It was never walking away," he stated. "It was stepping back rather than stepping down."
"Whatever decisions are made on that side I will never walk away," he said. "I'll always be contributing. My life is public service so wherever I am in the world it's going to be the same thing."
FROM CHRISTMAS SERVICES TO TROOPING THE COLOUR: HOW THE ROYALS CELEBRATE THEIR INTRIGUING FAMILY TRADITIONS
The father-of-one explained they made the decision to move out of the U.K. partly due to the constant negative attention they were receiving from the media, which proved to be too much to handle.
"It was a really difficult environment as I think a lot of people saw. We all know what the British press can be like. It was destroying my mental health," he confessed. "This is toxic, so I did what any husband and what any father would do which is, 'I need to get my family out of here,' but we never walked away."
Now living in Montecito, Calif., the couple were scheduled to sit down with Queen Elizabeth II next month to discuss the possibility of returning to royal life, but several weeks earlier, Buckingham Palace released a statement revealing they would "not be returning as working members of the royal family."
"The Queen has written confirming that in stepping away from the work of The Royal Family it is not possible to continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service," the announcement continued.
The words rubbed Harry and Meghan the wrong way, which prompted a spokesman for the couple to release a statement of their own.
"As evidenced by their work over the past year, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex remain committed to their duty and service to the U.K. and around the world, and have offered their continued support to the organisations they have represented regardless of official role," the message read. "We can all live a life of service. Service is universal."