Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Future Duties, Roles and Responsibilities

[Dman]

Massachusetts? Maybe in the Berkshires but not the east coast and Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, etc.

Wherever, Harry’s got the money to pay for it. I think it would be nice for them to have place away from home. Although I’m not sure they will do so. The places I named would offer the privacy and peace they crave.

 

[gerry]

I've never really understood the Governor General thing, or more precisely, the use of having a monarch living in a different country. So, always thought the queen having 4 children would have been the perfect occasion to divide the 4 largest countries (in terms of inhabitants) among them:
Charles could keep the UK
Anne could take Canada (perfect with her Canadian daughter-in-law as future queen)
Andrew could take Australia
Edward could take New Zealand (or if he wouldn't be interested, New Zealand could go to the duke of Gloucester but now Davina is divorced from her Maori husband that makes less sense).

Of course this is never going to happen - but it would make more sense to be if they had actual royals/monarchs living in those countries

Its the Commonwealth thing; the governor general is the Queen's representative in more than 50 countries around the world. You are right that the days are long gone when a Brit would take the position; this tradition ended in Canada with the appointment of Torontonian Vincent Massey in 1952. Too many Canadians want the job so that the Sussexes would have to get into line, plus they would have to learn French

 

[Countessmeout]

Its the Commonwealth thing; the governor general is the Queen's representative in more than 50 countries around the world. You are right that the days are long gone when a Brit would take the position; this tradition ended in Canada with the appointment of Torontonian Vincent Massey in 1952. Too many Canadians want the job so that the Sussexes would have to get into line, plus they would have to learn French

Yes and no.

The Governor General is the queen's representative yes. But not in 50 countries. I think you are confusing two concepts here. There are the commonwealth realms and then there is the commonwealth of nations.

The commonwealth realms, there are 16, are countries like Canada that the queen is our monarch. She is our Head of state. We do not have a president, we have the queen and then a prime minister. Since the queen can not be in all 16 realms and in the UK, she appoints a GG to over see her duties in each of these realms.

The commonwealth of nations are Independent countries. They have their own Heads of State. Some are monarchies, like Brunei, with their own monarch. The queen is head of the organization, but she is not head of any of these states. And she does not appoint a GG to represent her in these nations (the 50 that you mentioned). Ambassadors but not a GG.

Besides the commonwealth realms, there are crown dependencies who have governors or commisioners. But that is a different matter.




But yes the days when the queen would have a member of her extended family like the Sussexes be GG are long over. Or any Brit for that matter. The idea that a foreign queen would appoint a foreigner to over see our government for her would no longer fly well in modern countries. No matter how popular the royal or person was at the time.


The royals have always spent time on tours and work in the realms. And there would likely be little complaint if they were here for extended work, but not in such an official capacity as GG

 

[TLLK]

If they decide to get a vacation home in the States, I don’t think it would be in Los Angeles. They won’t be flocking to where the paps are. The best places to get a vacation home would be in Illinois, Denver, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. They wouldn’t be bothered by anything or anyone in those places.

The Sussexes would not need to be based in Los Angeles. There are plenty of other communities in Southern California that they could have a vacation home in proximity to Doria that would be free from the paparazzi.

 

[Pranter]

They would have to speak French

She evidently does speak a passable French. Harry however does not from what I understand.


LaRae

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

Why are people treating a tabloid story like gospel? Then when it doesn't happen it will go in the bin of "things the Sussexes lied about" despite them never discussing such a possibility.

 

[_Heather_]

I think I am right in saying that Harry once said that when he was younger he had considered walking away from royal life but he knew his duty was to the throne in particular to be there to support his brother when the time came. The support of siblings and close family is very important to a monarch, although Harry might think differently now.
I still think some of the stories coming out are testers to see who is leaking info.

I seem to recall Harry saying that, as well. That said, I suspect Harry's feelings on this might well have changed over the course of the last few years. Whether or not this report of house-hunting in the US is correct or not, I wouldn't be one bit surprised to find that they do, at some point, purchase a home in the LA area and frankly, I'm not sure I'd be overly surprised if they did eventually extricate themselves from the BRF and relocate permanently.

I suspect that you're correct with your theory of tester stories and checking for leaks. However, this particular story doesn't really seem overly far fetched or a great reach to me. I think it's perfectly natural to be a bit homesick and certainly it's normal to wish you were closer to your mother, particularly when she appears to be the only relative to whom you're close. Throw in the apparent wish to do things your own way and the reports of feeling caged and without a voice and the criticism (whether deserved or not) that seems to come with much of the Sussexes activity. Add to that the fact that the Cambridges now have three children (though they won't be adults for some time yet) that will take some of the weight and responsibility and support expectations off Harry and I can't say I'd be even remotely surprised to hear that they've decided they can do exactly what they want without the constraints of royal life if they were to make the US their home and take the steps that come with that in regard to their association with the BRF.