Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have officially shut down their Sussex Royal charity.
The move will further distance themselves from the Royal family, amid rumours they will never return to their roles.
According to Newsweek, the couple have filed official paperwork with Companies House to dissolve the royal foundation.
An insider said: “Following previous announcements that The Duke and Duchess will not be using the name ‘Sussex Royal’ and will not continue with a foundation in its name, paperwork has been filed with Companies House and the Charity Commission to formally close the charity down.”
“This will appear on the online public record in the coming days. The charity formally enters a period of ‘solvent liquidation’.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex decided to shut down their charitable organisation, after the Queen ruled that the couple can no longer use the word “royal”.
Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior working members of the Royal family at the end of March, but the couple have been given the opportunity to change their minds – as their situation will be reviewed after a 12-month period.
However, their latest move has fuelled rumours they may never return to the Institution.
The pair are currently in the process of setting up their own non-profit organisation called Archewell – but they hit a road block last month after their trademark application was denied.
Harry and Meghan originally intended on launching the foundation this year, but as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement – the launch has been postponed until 2021.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph earlier this year, the couple revealed the inspiration behind the charity.
They said: “Before SussexRoyal, came the idea of Arche – the Greek word meaning source of action. We connected to this concept for the charitable organisation we hoped to build one day, and it became the inspiration for our son’s name. To do something of meaning, to do something that matters.”
“Archewell is a name that combines an ancient word for strength and action, and another that evokes the deep resources we each must draw upon. We look forward to launching Archewell when the time is right,” they added.
Earlier this week, new court documents from Meghan’s ongoing lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday revealed she felt “unprotected” by the Royal family.
The Duchess of Sussex is suing Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the UK Mail on Sunday, for printing a “private and confidential” letter to her estranged father Thomas Markle.
According to the latest court documents, Meghan felt “prohibited from defending herself” after “false and damaging” articles were published about her while she was pregnant.
The documents read: “[Meghan Markle] had become the subject of a large number of false and damaging articles by the U.K. tabloid media, specifically by the [Mail on Sunday], which caused tremendous emotional distress and damage to her mental health.”
“As her friends had never seen her in this state before, they were rightly concerned for her welfare, specifically as she was pregnant, unprotected by the Institution and prohibited from defending herself.”
Meghan is suing the publishers of the UK Mail on Sunday for printing a “private and confidential” letter to her estranged father Thomas Markle.
Meghan’s father received the letter in August 2018, months before sections of it were published in the UK Mail on Sunday and on the MailOnline in February, 2019.
The mother-of-one is seeking damages from Associated Newspapers Ltd for alleged misuse of private information, copyright infringement and breach of the Data Protection Act.
Associated Newspapers have defended the document’s publication by suggesting Meghan put the letter in the public domain by allegedly telling friends about it – who later spoke to People magazine.
However, the Duchess has insisted she was unaware that five close friends were planning to speak to People magazine about her strained relationship with Thomas, for an article published in February 2019.
The People magazine article, which was published on February 18, 2019, referred to letters exchanged between Meghan and her father Thomas.
In the latest court documents, the 38-year-old once again maintains that she was “unaware” of her friends’ actions.
Meghan’s legal representatives state: “Had the Claimant been asked or been given the opportunity to participate, she would have asked the KP Communications Team to say on the record that she had not been involved with the People magazine article, as she had not been.”
