would say he is not. a lot of people would say he is entitled to the protection full so it is really whether or not it is seen to be abused. i don't think harry will want to do that but moving to canada means an enormous ramping up of the potential costs because these are met police officers. they will have to fly to canada to do their shifts. after a few days, they will fly back. the carbon footprint will be enormous for a couple they want to preach about the need for us not to fly as much. there are problems, but from a personal point of view, i think it's... we personal point of view, i think it's. .. we cannot personal point of view, i think it's... we cannot strip prince harry of his real protection because we sell it happen with princess diana decided to not want real protection or when she went alone. duncan, good to have your protection. —— your opinion. this is bbc news — the headlines:

prince harry and meghan are to give up prince harry and meghan are to give up their hrh titles as they stepped down as working royals, according to the queen. the couple will pay back or have a wish to pay back £2.1i million of public money spent on frogmore cottage in windsor, and will keep it as their home when they are in the uk. they will no longer get public funding from the sovereign grant for royal duties and harry will resign from his official military appointments. welcome to bbc news. the queen has announced that prince harry and meghan will no longer use their royal titles and will no longer receive public funds from the sovereign grant for carrying out royal duties. they will no longer

represent the queen as working members of the royal family, including official military appointments for prince harry. the new model is expected to come into effect this spring. this comes after the couple said earlier this month they wanted to step back a senior royals. in a statement, the queen said, following many months of conversations in more recent discussions, i am conversations in more recent discussions, lam pleased conversations in more recent discussions, i am pleased that together we have had a constructive and supportive way forward for my grandson and his family... let's ta ke grandson and his family... let's take a closer look at the agreement between them. the statement did not mention security, as buckingham palace said it does not comment on the details of security arrangements. harry and meghan were no longer use the hrh titles as they will no longer be working members of the royalfamily, will no longer be working members of the royal family, alongside will no longer be working members of the royalfamily, alongside not being required to carry out royal duties they will no longer receive those public funds from the hole sovereign grant for engagements. they say they would like to pay back

£21; they say they would like to pay back £2.4 million of public money used for the refurbishment of frogmore cottage in windsor, but it will remain their uk home. let's speak to nicholas witchell. it was embargoed until about half an hour ago, it is a statement we've been waiting for for a few days. it is rather thinner than we expected, far fewer details about the protocols and the rules of the game in terms of how they can earn their money. they are going to need to earn a considerable amount of money, and the only guidance we have on that is they have made it clear everything they do will continue to uphold the values of her majesty. we should emphasise they are not going to use the hrh titles, they are not giving them up, they will still be hrh, but they were just not present themselves as such because they are no longer going to because they are no longer going to be working members of the royal family in the way that they have beenin family in the way that they have been in the past. but this confirms that they go, certainly according to

the statement, with the good wishes and the understanding of the queen, and the understanding of the queen, and one must assume other members of the royal family. harry, and one must assume other members of the royalfamily. harry, meghan and archie will be much loved members of my family, the queen said in her statement, and i think it is significant that she said she was particularly proud of how meghan had so particularly proud of how meghan had so quickly become one of the family, even though now she is pretty much disappearing. is this going to work? i think thejury disappearing. is this going to work? i think the jury is out. this hybrid, half then, half out... we are looking at pictures of harry and william, and i think he must be not only deeply saddened at the state of affairs but i would have thought rather disappointed that his brother has chosen this path. but with a degree of understanding that that is perhaps right for harry and meghan and their baby son at this point in their lives. but i think whether it will work depends so much on how they conduct themselves now. and the one sort of irony of this whole situation is they are trying to

escape from too much scrutiny but of course by doing this they have guaranteed they will receive so much more scrutiny in canada or wherever than would otherwise have been the case, and i think there will be very close attention to just how they set about earning money. one is led to believe that those people around meghan have already been making plans, all the people she knew when she was a professional actress, her blog, and all the other social media outlets and the publicists and so on, some of them i think from the west coast of america who have been setting up the alternative website and all that sort of thing. well, how is she going to set about now leading the way perhaps in earning the money that they are going to have to do, and as they have declared is their objective to stop receiving public funds, though it is clear they will continue to receive money from the prince of wales from the duchy of cornwall, which of

course to a large extent funds them at the moment. all they are giving up at the moment. all they are giving up is the element from what is called the sovereign grant, the public money they receive, that is about two or £3 million a year. not about two or £3 million a year. not a huge amount, but if they are to set up home in canada, and it would need to be a secure home and all that sort of thing, they will have to do find considerable amounts of money. i'm sure they both have significant savings, harry certainly does, and we are led to believe she has amassed quite a considerable amount of capital from her time as an actress. but i think it is how they conduct themselves now which will determine how, particularly in this country, how the population of the uk perceives them going forward. and the other thing of course we have to bear in mind is how durable, if you like, is a celebrity when you are not part of the full—time royal machine, when you do not have that royal panoply around you? it is

probably more durable in north america than it is perhaps in europe. there may be a feeling in this country, i stress, may, that to some extent they have let the side down, that they have... albeit they are going with the warm wishes of the queen and other mothers of the family, i think there will be shop disappointment because he has been a very popular, and i'm sure will continue to be a very popular member of the royal family. continue to be a very popular member of the royalfamily. these continue to be a very popular member of the royal family. these are all things they have clearly weighed up and made their choice, make their wishes known, and the royalfamily now in the ten days since they issued that statement, they have come to this agreement, this accommodation with them which some of the details of which we have learned tonight. and there will be many more questions for us to ask, no doubt, a of comment will be made. for the moment, thank very much. let's remind you of the statement that was issued around a0 minutes ago as part of royal communication.

we are looking at the statement from her majesty the queen. there it is. the statement ends there but then

the statement is also from buckingham palace, and it reads...

let's speak to the former buckingham palace press secretary and spokesman for the queen, dickie arbiter. we are also speaking to robertjobson who is the royal editor of the evening standard newspaper. welcome to you both. dickie, first, you've had a chance to look at these statements, what is your first thought? it is all very sad. it was all very sad that they made this decision last wednesday. i suppose this is the best they could get out of it. the queen is very pragmatic and realises that harry and meghan have made a decision, they want to step back from front line royal duties, and the queen has tried to accommodate them. and as such, they have stepped back, they are not using their hrh titles, although as

far as america is concerned they will probably use it, if you go back yea rs will probably use it, if you go back years ago at the time that the duke of windsor visited the us he always referred to the duchess of windsor, she didn't have the hrh, but he used to refer to her as hrh and the americans did as well. so the americans did as well. so the americans will probably still use it though the suffixes won't. as far as the repayment of the £2.a million for the reef banishment of frogmore cottage, a good move. it says it is a wish. it is a wish and it will probably happen because there was quite a furore over the amount of money spent on it. it had to be spent, probably not that much, but it had to be refurbished. so that is a good move. it talks about security, they don't talk about security, they don't talk about security, but you have to remember harry was in the army, he did two tours of duty in afghanistan, the police still think there is a threat against him because of who he is, because of his army duty, because he is the grandson of the queen, the son of the prince of wales, and

therefore security will probably be maintained. they will have to work out how to do it and how to afford it. stay with us. robert, did feels this is sad, had you see it?|j it. stay with us. robert, did feels this is sad, had you see it? i echo his views or many of them, but the reality is people will look at the cost involved and also look at making sure harry and meghan will retain their titles although they've made it very clear that they are still members of the royal family theyjust won't be able to use them, but basically won't be able to use them for commercial use. that is very important because obviously other members of the royal family like princesses beatrice and eugenie... sorry... we can still hear you, don't worry. they are not working members of the royal family and they are there highnesses. so

the bottom line going forward is there will be a review reviewing one year's time by the charles and william, who are really the ones in charge here. the senior royals. and once the review is in place there will be no oversight as to what commercial deals are in place, that is quite interesting really. ithink they are relying on the integrity of harry and meghan not to exploit the royal brand all the royal name or tarnish it in anyway. i think it is a balancing act, the fact there is a review in place i think is quite important for the royal family because there is always a chance that members of the public won't wa nt that members of the public won't want to see them cashing in any way on the royal brand. the other thing is on security, my understanding is because prince harry is a prince of the realm, the canadians will pick up the realm, the canadians will pick up most of the tab for security. they will spend the majority of theirtime in canada, though they will spend the majority of their time in canada, though they will retain frogmore hole cut edge

as their uk residents when they come back. they will be invited to royal family events, so we have not seen the last of them. stay with us. is that your understanding, dickie, that your understanding, dickie, that the security costs in northern america would fall to the canadians because justin trudeau america would fall to the canadians becausejustin trudeau the prime minister of canada said when all of this first broke ten days ago or so, they haven't been consulted, the authorities weren't aware... that is an interesting point, hejumped the guna an interesting point, hejumped the gun a bit. he is the prime minister but not the government, and the government will want to discuss this at cabinet level, and parliament will want to discuss it within the houses of parliament, so it is not a done deal. meanwhile, untilsuch time as there is a done deal, whether the canadians pick up a percentage or not, the security will continue to be picked up by scotland yard, ie, the taxpayer. we don't have the details of that in a statement. the other thing

concerning me as the queen created them vice president and president of them vice president and president of the commonwealth trust. what happens to that? you put so much store in the fact they were going to do it, they spoke with enthusiasm that there is a job they really wanted to do, and now they won't be able to do it because they won't be front line members of the royal family. robert, you say there will be some scrutiny about how they use their titles, but the were eyebrows raised at the fact they trademarked sussex royal, they have a website, it would be hard not to trade on titles that even if they don't use them, won't it? how else are they meant to make their own way in the world and be independent? the question has been asked about sussex royal and there has been no response, whether they continue to use it. my understanding in terms of patronage he will no longer the captain general of the royal

marines, and his military commitments there. there is a lot that still has to be resolved and sorted out, but there is a lot that has been sorted out which is essentially they will not be able to effectively do anything that undermines their position of the royal family. that is not the point here. the queen will want them to be inside the royal family because in going forward and trying to accommodate their needs, ultimately they do with this is not a constitutional issue, they are so fire down the pecking order in reality, behind the prince of wales, the duke of cambridge, then prince george, then charlotte and louis, and then they would be king and queen. so this is not a constitutional issue as was the situation going back over with the divorce of childs and diana. —— charles and diana. this is something for the family to resolve and i think they're trying to do so

quickly because this story going on and on as the headlines and the work the royal family do on a daily basis is being ignored. that was very clear, that there was an impetus behind this, they wanted to get some kind of structure out. how much extra pressure is this going to put on william and kate? it would be a certain amount of pressure, they will perhaps have to pick up some of the charities that harry and meghan had been involved in, although they will continue with private charities. in the short term it won't bring pressure, but it might bring pressure on the long term. it depends on how harry and meghan service their charities. it is conceivable that the queen might ask william and catherine to take on the queen's commonwealth trust if harry and meghan have now stepped back from royal duty. the commonwealth is very important to the queen. the prince of wales will be the next head of the commonwealth, one day,

perhaps william will be head of the commonwealth. so it is important, important to them, important to the uk as part of the commonwealth, and important to the monarchy. therefore the queen's commonwealth trust youth ambassadors need to be serviced and someone ambassadors need to be serviced and someone has to do it, and william and catherine are the next best people. dickie arbiter, thank you. i'm sure we will see you again in the next few days. robertjobson, before we let you go, how little scrutiny might harry and meghan really be able to get away with given the fact that some of their celebrity will be necessary to help them earn a living, but from what we are led to believe it is the overwhelming scrutiny, that sort of hot housing they felt they had put up hot housing they felt they had put up with, particularly in this country from the media, that in part has led to them making this decision to live abroad. i am surprised because i've been around 30 years

and the late princess of wales had a lot of scrutiny and in terms of this couple being handed i would say very much it is not the case, and that is my considered judgment. the reality going forward is that they will be on the west coast of america, we have seen in the last few days after meghan apparently contacted a couple of charities and had phone contact with them, photographs have appeared, during the whole period they were there on holiday nothing appeared at all. there will be interest from the paparazzi in hollywood, they will be interest from canadian media and they will be arguing that if we are paying for security, which i understand they will be, that is legitimate that they should be scrutinised. i have a feeling though that, given a bit of time and place they are in, that the whole brouha ha around time and place they are in, that the whole brouhaha around this story will begin to fade. it does tend to be the case. as you said earlier, who will take up the slack? in the

beginning of 2019, you had the duke of york, you had meghan, harry, all carrying out royal duties. that is three full—time members of the royal family carrying out about 800 duties a year. they are no longer there any more. they are no longer doing royal duties. that is a big loss for the royal stepfamily and —— royal family, and they will be the worse for it. thank you for joining us. let's talk to our royal correspondent, daniela relph. this statement was much anticipated, tell us how you as a royal correspondent received this news? we got it at about 6:30pm today, we had a briefing from some of the buckingham palace staff, a conference call ahead of that. with

the staff that worked for the queen, the staff that worked for the queen, the prince of wales, the duke and duchess of cambridge, and the duke and duchess of sussex as well, who read out those statements and took some of our questions on how all of this will work, many of the questions you have been asking your guests questions you have been asking your gu ests over questions you have been asking your guests over the past hour or so. much of which we do not have the a nswe i’s much of which we do not have the a nswers for much of which we do not have the answers for just now. much of which we do not have the answers forjust now. but much of which we do not have the answers for just now. but they were very keen to stress the discussions with officials over the past week since the family meeting in sandringham had been friendly, constructive, yes, there were a number of issues that still need to be resolved but some of those major issues and major points had now been decided on and will be moved forward. i think what struck me particularly listening to the briefing was the statement from the queen, it is the second statement we've had on the behalf of the queen this week, and you got the sense that rather than speaking as a moderate she was speaking as a worried grandmother trying to fix a family problem, slightly. the language in a statement about harry,

meghan and archie being much loved, about how meghan had settled into family life so well, and that she hoped these changes would allow them to lead a happy and peaceful life going forward. incredibly personal in terms of the kind of wording used there. particularly in contrast a few years ago when the royal family we re few years ago when the royal family were accused of being a little distant, maybe a little remote. this language is such a change in tone and style, a very personal note. a lot of the questions nicholas witchell was raising earlier, you wonder whether we were ever get to the bottom of it, tax issues, immigration status, all those rather boring administrative things that if you are not a member of the royal family you have to deal with all the time. that's right. a lot of those questions simply could not be a nswered questions simply could not be answered today. somebody asked about the fact that the duchess of sussex is supposedly in the process of becoming a british citizen, when

they were announcing their engagement in the plans for their wedding we were told that was an ongoing process and she would become a british citizen. but how will that happen if we are now told she will spend the vast majority of her year in north america? nobody quite knows. as you say, immigration, residency in canada, when itjust happened because of who they are? it probably should not, because i suspect the canadian government and the public might not like it. so what are the rules and regulations around that and how it happens? robertjobson was also talking about the idea of oversight, it is really interesting that the deal is clearly that in a year's time this whole package will be reviewed, is it working, has given them this level of freedom to pursue their own commercial interests as long as they uphold the values of the queen, whatever that means, is it working out, will it be allowed to go forward or will there be any changes made? they have a year to try and get this right. do we have any idea just how many people would have

really had to have been consulted to get to this agreement as fairly simply written as it is? yes. it is pretty simply written in terms of what we're being told tonight. but obviously the kind of discussions that would have gone on over recent days, we were talking to the communications staff from all the royal palaces today, they will have been involved. particularly involved will have been the private secretaries for each of the main senior members of the royal family, the queen from the prince of wales, william and harry and meghan, they will have played a key role in terms of making decisions and the discussions. there will then obviously have to be some conversation with the canadiens but also the british government, the home office, the foreign office, the met police, they will all have been consulted on various issues around how this package of changes will work. one final question, how much

ofa work. one final question, how much of a loss to british life, the public life, will it be to not have harry and meghan part of it, because they have been immensely popular for a lot of people, haven't they, despite the fact they feel they've had the rough end of it from the media at times? i think it will be viewed as a loss. we can see that in the statement from monday where it was tinged with regret in terms of them wanting to step back from these senior roles. you got the sense, you wondered whether she had tried to persuade harry to think otherwise at sandringham on monday. meghan, in terms of her background and what she brought the royal family, terms of her background and what she brought the royalfamily, she terms of her background and what she brought the royal family, she was com pletely brought the royal family, she was completely different from anyone who had previously married in, a divorcee, working woman who had her own independent means, from a mixed race background, it was a completely different sort of person who is joining royal life, and i think there was definitely a sense that she could reach communities and people who may be in the past might

have found the royal family rather too stuffy and stuck in their ways. she offered something different. so i think she offered something different. so ithink in she offered something different. so i think in terms of the potential of them both as a couple there will be some regret in terms of the fact they won't be able to do this kind of work now under the umbrella of the royal family. having of work now under the umbrella of the royalfamily. having said of work now under the umbrella of the royal family. having said that, there is clearly from the statements we re there is clearly from the statements were seen there is clearly from the statements were seen from the queen and understanding they must both have been incredibly unhappy with their public life and what was happening to them, and a change had to be made. thank you. let's now speak to the royal biographer, angela levin. how clear are you following the state m e nts how clear are you following the statements about the nature of harry and meghan's role, their life in the future? i think it is very misty and probably got a few dark clouds hovering over it. it seems to me that nothing has been worked out

fully. we get this from the royal family trying to very quickly sort things out, but i imagine harry and meghan were so determined to go so quickly that they haven't actually processed what the future might hold. i think it will be fine for meghan, she has lots of friends there, lots of contacts, she might act, she has all sorts of things she could do. ifear it will act, she has all sorts of things she could do. i fear it will be very difficult for prince harry, no longer prince, harry. when he looks back he might find he has lost a great deal. he has also never really had a job, meghan has worked her way up had a job, meghan has worked her way up as an actress and done lots of things beside that to keep her money coming in. but prince harry isn't used to that, he is used to getting a list of what was on today, every day, from all his staff, and that will not be there. i think they will miss that a lot, having somebody to

look after all the details of their lives. i do fearfor the look after all the details of their lives. i do fear for the future, really. he did have his time in the military, of course, which he enjoyed immensely and gave him a sense of purpose. some people looking on will think why on earth would you give up a life like this, why on earth would you want to step away from so much privilege? can you shed light on that? it is hard to not say prince harry... harry told me when i interviewed him for my book that he was fed up with living in the goldfish bowl. he couldn't bear it. and he wanted to go away, he wanted to go to africa and work with animals there, to have a com pletely with animals there, to have a completely different type of life. but then prince philip retired in his 90s, and he was asked to take over some of prince phillip's engagements and charities, and the

queen cut down quite a lot as well at the same time and he was asked to do various things for her, including the rugby league which he did just the rugby league which he did just the other day. and he thought about it very carefully, he said, and he decided the most important thing was his sense of duty. that is what he has been brought up with, of course. and that he would be there for the queen. and he said his second important thing in his life was to have a sense of duty for prince william, and he wanted to be there for him. of course they argue, they are very different personalities, brothers fall out. but i think he will miss the closeness of his family. and of course he is also distant from his friends, he has not seen distant from his friends, he has not seen his close friends bar one i think for some months, and i think he might be quite lost. he is very vulnerable. this is all a big trauma andi vulnerable. this is all a big trauma and i think he got very low, he did

say in an interview in south africa that he sometimes couldn't get out of bed in the morning because he was so of bed in the morning because he was so worried about what was going on in the world. and i think there is sort of mental health issue that can sort of mental health issue that can sort of mental health issue that can sort of engulf him, really. angela levin, ring appreciate you talking to us. thank you. the statement from the queen has made it clear that harry and meghan will no longer use their hrh titles and will no longer represents the queen and royal duties. you're watching bbc news. we'll find out how this story is covered in tomorrow's front pages. you can be surely plastered all over them. our guests joining me tonight are nigel nelson, political editor at the sunday mirror and sunday people,

and the political