Meghan Markle and Prince Harry plan to press pause on their royal duties after facing intense public scrutiny, especially from the media, in recent weeks.
The couple is set to take a six-week sabbatical for “family time” beginning in November, according to The Sunday Times, dividing their break between the United States and the United Kingdom over the holidays.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex reportedly plan to bring their 5-month-old son, Archie, to his mother’s homeland for the first time, celebrating Thanksgiving as a family with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, in California.
The trio will then journey back across the pond for Christmas, which they’ll spend with Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the royal family at her Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England.
A source told the Times’ royal correspondent, “The duke and duchess have a full schedule of engagements and commitments until mid-November, after which they will be taking some much-needed family time.”
The brief retreat from public life arrives on the heels of a particularly eventful few months for the couple, as they’ve recently completed a 10-day tour across South Africa with baby Archie.
The trip will be the subject of the forthcoming ITV documentary “Harry & Meghan: An African Journey,” which premieres on Sunday.
During an interview filmed on the final day of the tour, British broadcaster Tom Bradby asked the duchess about the impact of media attention on her physical and mental health.
Holding back tears, Meghan described the ordeal as “really challenging” behind the scenes.
“Look, any woman, especially when they are pregnant, you’re really vulnerable and so that was made really challenging,” she explained. “And then when you have a newborn ― you know … especially as a woman, it’s a lot. So you add this [media attention] on top of just trying to be a new mum or trying to be a newlywed it’s, well…”
She trailed off before finishing her thought, but went on to thank Bradby for asking about her well-being.
“Thank you for asking because not many people have asked if I’m OK, but it’s a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes,” she added.
Harry has also been unusually vocal about the British tabloids’ “ruthless” treatment of his wife, blasting the media in a rare statement toward the end of the royal tour in Africa.
“Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences ― a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son,” he wrote.
Harry has even considered settling down somewhere in Africa and beyond the reach of the British mainstream media, explaining that Cape Town, South Africa, would be an “amazing place” to put down roots as a young family.
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