Despite being thousands of miles away from each other, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not let the day pass without greeting Queen Elizabeth a happy birthday.
The monarch celebrated her 94th birthday yesterday, and Harper's Bazaar confirmed that Prince Harry, his wife Meghan, and their 11-month-old son Archie video-called the Queen. Unlike the other royals who used their social media accounts to greet the Queen, the Sussexes decided a more personal call would suffice. Of course, this may also be because they no longer have any social media account as of the moment. Since stepping down from being senior members of the royal family, they will no longer be allowed to use the Sussex Royal brand. Their last post on the Sussex Royal Instagram account was on March 31. They gave a farewell message to all their more than 11 million followers and thanked them for their support.
The phone call may also be a way to appease the Queen. There were sources that said that the Palace was less than happy with Harry and Meghan's letter to the tabloids regarding having zero engagement with them in the future. Aside from allegedly not heeding the advice of the Palace, the announcement was also made a day before the Queen's birthday.
The couple seems to be enjoying their transition to non-royal life. They are currently living in Los Angeles, and they have not only been seen walking their dogs but have also volunteered their time to bring meals to those who need them through the charity Project Angel Food. Meghan even appeared on 'Good Morning America' to promote the Disney documentary 'Elephant' where she is the voiceover.
But the couple has apparently left behind some disgruntled taxpayers int he UK. According to The Daily Mail, taxpayers are demanding that the couple should pay back the amount they used to renovate their home on the Windsor Estate. The renovations for Frogmore Cottage apparently cost around £2.4million, which was taken from the Sovereign Grant. But now that they are living in the US, taxpayers want that money back now. Harry and Meghan did say in April that they were going to pay it back, but no announcement has been made whether this was already done.
The fury of the taxpayers came about because of Harry's statements that the coronavirus crisis was 'better than we are led to believe through certain corners of the media'.