--- title: John Oliver Weighs in on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry description: John Oliver parsed the drama over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's decision to leave the royal family in an interview with Stephen Colbert. canonical: https://time.com/5782040/john-oliver-meghan-markle-harry/ author: Rachel E. Greenspan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-02-11T15:28:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:01:17.360Z og:title: John Oliver Weighs in on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Plan to Scale Back Their Royal Family Roles og:description: The comedian told Stephen Colbert that he understood their reasoning og:url: https://time.com/5782040/john-oliver-meghan-markle-harry/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Oliver Weighs in on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Plan to Scale Back Their Royal Family Roles twitter:description: The comedian told Stephen Colbert that he understood their reasoning twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # John Oliver Weighs in on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Plan to Scale Back Their Royal Family Roles ## Video: Prince Harry Says He and Meghan Markle Hoped to Continue Royal Duties, but 'That Wasn’t Possible' [Watch (HLS stream): Prince Harry Says He and Meghan Markle Hoped to Continue Royal Duties, but 'That Wasn’t Possible'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/x3e7iEF7.m3u8) (1:26)  _Published 2020-01-20. Prince Harry said Sunday that he felt “great sadness” but found “no other option” to cutting almost all of his and his wife Meghan’s royal ties in the hopes of achieving a more peaceful life._ by [Rachel E. Greenspan](https://time.com/author/rachel-e-greenspan/) ## Rachel E. Greenspan Feb 11, 2020 3:28 PM UTC by [Rachel E. Greenspan](https://time.com/author/rachel-e-greenspan/) ## Rachel E. Greenspan Feb 11, 2020 3:28 PM UTC [Stephen Colbert](https://time.com/5653989/stephen-colbert-anderson-cooper-grief/) enlisted the help of esteemed royals obsessive [John Oliver](https://time.com/5730598/john-oliver-census-donald-trump/) to discuss the drama over Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex’s decision to [scale back their royal family roles](https://time.com/5767884/harry-and-meghan-titles-removed/). Taking a moment away from his own talk show desk, comedian Oliver visited [_The Late Show with Stephen Colbert_](https://time.com/5551587/jimmy-kimmel-stephen-colbert-trump-shows/)this week. And Colbert asked the Brit if he was “transfixed” by this shakeup. “It was a piece of cultural annexation,” Oliver joked. “You sent an American over there and you took a prince.” Then the comedian went on to take a more serious tone to comment on Meghan and Harry’s [choice to step back from royalty](https://time.com/5761547/prince-harry-meghan-markle-step-back-senior-royals/), as they announced in January. “I think they’ve absolutely done the right thing. I think it was a horrible situation for them to be in,” Oliver said. Oliver recalled a recent visit to Colbert’s show, before the royal wedding in May of 2018, when he predicted something like this could happen to the new family. “I was saying, ‘This is going to be rough.’ The British tabloid press is rough on royalty.” Meghan and Harry have made clear that the [tabloid coverage of their family played a role](https://time.com/5713109/british-parliament-women-mp-meghan-markle/) in their [choice to step back](https://time.com/5762321/royals-who-stepped-down/), in the hopes of giving their son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, a more normal life. The family will split their time between Canada and the U.K. “This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter,” they said [in an Instagram post](https://www.instagram.com/p/B7EaGS%5FJpb9/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed). Watch Stephen Colbert’s full video interview with John Oliver here. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5782040/john-oliver-meghan-markle-harry/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5782040/john-oliver-meghan-markle-harry/"},"headline":"John Oliver Weighs in on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Plan to Scale Back Their Royal Family Roles","datePublished":"2020-02-11T15:28:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:01:17.360Z","description":"The comedian told Stephen Colbert that he understood their reasoning","url":"https://time.com/5782040/john-oliver-meghan-markle-harry/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","royals","onetime","clickmonsters"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rachel E. Greenspan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rachel-e-greenspan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"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/5782040/john-oliver-meghan-markle-harry/","name":"John Oliver Weighs in on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Plan to Scale Back Their Royal Family Roles"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Prince Harry Says He and Meghan Markle Hoped to Continue Royal Duties, but 'That Wasn’t Possible'","description":"Prince Harry said Sunday that he felt “great sadness” but found “no other option” to cutting almost all of his and his wife Meghan’s royal ties in the hopes of achieving a more peaceful life.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/x3e7iEF7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-01-20T03:13:01.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/x3e7iEF7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5782040/john-oliver-meghan-markle-harry/","duration":"PT1M26S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5782040/john-oliver-meghan-markle-harry/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```