--- ---  # 'Entirely Supportive.' The Queen Breaks Silence About Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Decision to Scale Back Royal Role  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 13, 2020 6:00 PM UTC  Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House on Tuesday in London, England. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House on Tuesday in London, England.Getty Images/Photo by Chris Jackson  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 13, 2020 6:00 PM UTC Queen Elizabeth II has officially responded to [Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex](https://time.com/5757551/prince-harry-meghan-markle-new-years-message/) and [Meghan, Duchess of Sussex](https://time.com/5762826/meghan-markle-in-canada/) announcing that they are [stepping back as “senior members”](https://time.com/5761547/prince-harry-meghan-markle-step-back-senior-royals/) of Britain’s royal family. On Monday, the Queen released a statement in which she gave Harry and Meghan her blessing to scale back their royal role. In the wake of the Queen convening a meeting of all four royal households (those of her own; Prince Charles, Prince of Wales; Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry) to come up with a [“workable”](https://twitter.com/RE%5FDailyMail/status/1215332501494870016) future role for Harry and Meghan, Her Royal Majesty announced on Jan. 13 that there will be “a period of transition” in which the Sussexes split time between Canada and the U.K. > [](https://twitter.com/chrisshipitv/status/1216766839654682625) In her statement, the Queen also said that the royal family is “entirely supportive” of Harry and Meghan’s choice and that she has asked for final decisions to be reached in the coming days. “Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working members of the royal family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as family while remaining a valued part of my family,” she said. Queen Releases Statement on Harry and Meghan Stepping Back ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5763086/queen-statement-prince-harry-meghan-markle/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5763086/queen-statement-prince-harry-meghan-markle/"},"headline":"'Entirely Supportive.' The Queen Breaks Silence About Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Decision to Scale Back Royal Role","datePublished":"2020-01-13T18:00:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:01:13.303Z","description":"Her Royal Majesty has given the Sussexes her blessing","url":"https://time.com/5763086/queen-statement-prince-harry-meghan-markle/","keywords":["Newsfeed","royals","onetime","clickmonsters"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77f2f32989e7cffa/698a08b322fb85e1b7e2a6ff/MeghanMarklePrinceHarryPlan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77f2f32989e7cffa/698a08b322fb85e1b7e2a6ff/MeghanMarklePrinceHarryPlan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Visit Canada House","caption":"The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex release plan","creditText":"Getty Images/Photo by Chris Jackson","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5763086/queen-statement-prince-harry-meghan-markle/","name":"'Entirely Supportive.' The Queen Breaks Silence About Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Decision to Scale Back Royal Role"}}]}] ```