Meghan wasn't doing well. "I never thought that this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair, and that’s the part that's really hard to reconcile," Meghan said. When she first met Prince Harry, her friends had told her "the British tabloids will destroy your life." She said she didn't get it at the time, but that it had been hard.

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Nobody -

She also complained about never being asked how she was as a brand new mother.

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Christmas -

Things went from bad to worse when the couple announced they wouldn't be celebrating Christmas in England, but rather in Canada.

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Revelation -

Then in early 2020, they dropped a bombshell. They would be taking a "step back" from royal duties and wanted to divide their time between North America and the UK.

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Megxit -

In February, the deeply controversial split from the British royal house started to look more like a blood feud, with the Queen announcing the couple would not be allowed to use their royal title in any commercial ventures. In March, the couple fulfilled their final royal duties.

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Moving house -

Prince Harry left the UK to be with Markle in a Canadian island hideaway in British Columbia (pictured), but after a short, chilly time there, they moved to sunny California in March, where they bought a mansion in Santa Barbara worth US$14.7 million.

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Some well-deserved privacy -

After years of attacks from the British media, the pair cut ties with UK tabloids. As you can see, it’s much harder for the paparazzi to reach them now in Montecito.

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Keeping up with charity -

Days after their resignation became final in April, the couple announced their new Archewell charity foundation. In October, they officially launched the charity, which will focus on gender equality, female empowerment, and conservation.

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Hard times fell -

Markle opened up later in the year about a miscarriage she had suffered in July, which had rocked their young family. They had just previously celebrated Archie’s first birthday in May.

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Legal battle -

In April, Markle sued Associated Newspapers, publisher of The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, for their publication of a private letter and private texts she sent to her estranged father ahead of her 2018 wedding. In October, she won her bid to have her court case delayed until September 2021.

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Starting their new careers -

In June, the Sussexes embarked on their new careers in California by signing with Harry Walker Agency, a speaking agency which also represents the Obamas, the Clintons, and Oprah Winfrey.

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‘Finding Freedom’ - Though they escaped the tabloids, the controversial royal tell-all, ‘Finding Freedom,’ by royal journalists Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, still caused a stir in 2020 with its intimate revelations of their life back in the UK.

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Netflix deal -

In September, the pair made their next major career move by signing a US$100 million deal with Netflix to create “content that informs but also gives hope.” With that money, they immediately paid back the few million they owed for the renovation of their former home at Frogmore Cottage.

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Spotify deal -

In December, the pair also signed a multi-year deal with Spotify to produce and host podcasts in partnership with their production company, Archewell Audio, which is also the name of their podcast. The podcast promises to bring A-list guests and different perspectives, and their first episode featured Tyler Perry, James Corden, and Elton John.

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Reuniting with the Royal family -

After the Queen debuted her streamlined group of senior royals in November, things seemed quiet, but the couple were still invited to Trooping of the Colour on June 12, 2021, which will celebrate the Queen’s birthday as usual. It will be their first public reunion since their appearance at the Westminster Abbey Commonwealth service in March 2020.

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Megxit: Autopsy of a royal fairy-tale

Is Queen Elizabeth trying to overshadow Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's latest public ventures?

23/02/21 | StarsInsider

CELEBRITY British royal family

Tensions appear to be rising between Queen Elizabeth and the departed senior royals Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. First, Buckingham Palace released a statement on February 18 confirming that the couple are officially done with their royal duties, and added, “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 couple's rep pushed back with their own statement soon after, emphasizing that it is still completely possible for them to be in service of the people, "regardless of official role.”

Now, Queen Elizabeth has scheduled her upcoming Commonwealth Day address to air on March 7, a day before the Commonwealth Day service had originally been planned, and curiously the same day as Harry and Meghan's CBS interview with Oprah Winfrey will air. Is this a calculated effort to overshadow the Duke and Duchess of Sussex?

What we do know for sure is that no family in the world is written about as much as the British royal family. Since November 2017, when Prince Harry announced his engagement to Meghan Markle, the press immediately started prying into every single detail of her past. The public's love affair with the young, beautiful couple culminated in their romantic and star-studded May 2018 wedding at Windsor Castle.

With a royal tour and a baby on the way, no one could have suspected that the fairy-tale was nearing its end. In 2020, the pair abruptly resigned as senior royals and eventually started a new life in California. What happened? Well, the only way to understand that is to go back to the beginning. From their tale of romance to resignation, to a renewed lease on life, click through to see the biggest royal crisis in decades, and what Harry and Meghan have been up to since then.