The announcement by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — aka the Duke and Duchess of Sussex — that they're stepping back from being "senior" members of Britain's royal family should have come as no great surprise to royal watchers who have watched the pair struggle in the glare of the spotlight over the past year.
Insiders sometimes call the royals "the Firm," and perhaps that analogy is useful to understanding their desire to live, shall we say, a more entrepreneurial life.
The shift is consistent with a long-term strategic plan attributed to Prince Charles, who has indicated that he favors a slimmed-down monarchy with fewer people called upon to play the role of senior executive. He wants the focus to be mainly on the monarch and those in the line of succession. In this case, that's the queen, himself, his son Prince William, and William's oldest child, Prince George. It's not the Sussexes, as much as the media loves covering them.