Meghan Markle and Prince Harry‘s standing within the royal family has been mired in turbulence since their resignation. Their relationship with the monarchy further deteriorated as the couple openly criticized and cast a shadow on the institution during their candid Oprah Winfrey interview. With a collection now including a docuseries and a memoir, their standing in the royal family, despite being the closest to the crown after Prince William and his children, remained unclear.

As the couple became more vocal about their grievances with the royal family following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, all eyes were on King Charles and how he addressed his son’s actions. While the monarch has not released any official statements on the matter, he has delivered a subtle snide.

King Charles claps back at Meghan Markle and Prince Harry

Given that their hands are still halfway dipped into millions of dollars, it is hard to pity the royal family. However, netizens have been siding with King Charles, Prince William, and Kate Middleton, as they maintained their stiff upper lip even when the Duke of Sussex bashed them publicly. While King Charles may not have used words to clap back at Prince Harry’s claims, he has used his strict categorization policy of Senior Royals, Working Royals, Non-Working Royals, and Others.

Ever since taking over the throne, King Charles has put in place policies that are not very beneficial to the Sussexes. The monarch even took away from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle the Frogmore Cottage. However, no burn cut as deeply as when he implied, through his categorization of the different kinds of royals, that the Sussexes were simply ‘Others.’

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s resignation as senior royals led to their exclusion from the ‘Senior Royals’ category. However, it is through excluding them from the ‘Non-Working Royals’ category that King Charles put salt on the injury.

How are the Sussexes, not Non-Working Royals?

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been constantly working since exiting from the royal family to move further up the ladder in Hollywood. While the Spotify deal falloff did result in questions being raised about their productivity, it could not take away from the fact that they were very active and working. This, along with the fact that Prince Harry has a best-selling memoir on the charts, contributes to the Sussexes’ exclusion from the ‘Non-Working Royals’ category.

While the Royal Institution mostly considers ‘work’ to be any activity that caters to the crown and its promotion, Markle and Prince Harry’s work outside has had a negative impact on it. This may have also contributed to the Sussexes falling in the ‘others’ category designed by King Charles. It is unclear if the Californian royals have any plans to change this anytime soon.

What do you think about King Charles putting the Sussexes in the ‘Others’ category? Let us know in the comments below.