Meghan Markle and Prince Harry shocked the world in January 2020 when they announced they were planning to step back as senior members of the British royal family.
Their decision, while controversial, wasn’t the first time members of royal families around the world decided to abdicate the throne or step back from their royal duties.
King Edward VIII
1937 – France: Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor, sits with his wife Wallis Simpson at the Chateau de Cands in France. Photo shows a close-up view of the couple. (Getty)
Edward, Duke of Windsor, was crowned King Edward VIII in January 1936 following the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.
However, Edward, who was Queen Elizabeth’s uncle, abdicated the throne in December 1936, serving less than a year as king, so he could marry American Wallis Simpson.
“Given my character, my roving curiosity and independence, my life appeared to form a disconnected pattern—duty without decision, service without responsibility, pomp without power,” Edward wrote in his 1951 memoir. “Meanwhile, something had happened that, although I did not realise it at the time, was destined to change the whole course of my life. I met Wallis Warfield Simpson.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
Meghan and Prince Harry pose for pictures after visiting the observatory in One World Trade in New York, on Sept. 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
Nearly two billion people around the world watched Prince Harry and Meghan Markle get married in 2018.
However, less than two years after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding, they announced in January 2020 that they would be stepping back from their roles.
The decision followed rumors of heightened tensions with Prince William and Kate Middleton, People magazine reported.
After spending some time in Canada after leaving the U.K., the couple moved to Southern California and are raising their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Princess Diana
Britain’s Diana, Princess of Wales, is pictured during an evening reception given by the West German President Richard von Weizsacker in honour of the British Royal guests in the Godesberg Redoute in Bonn, Germany Monday, Nov. 2, 1987. (AP Photo/Herman Knippertz, File)
The late Princess Diana lost her official title of “Her Royal Highness” after she and then-Prince Charles divorced in 1996, according to People magazine.
Diana was still allowed to use her apartment at Kensington Palace and retained an allowance.
Princess Mako
Japan’s Princess Mako and her fiance Kei Komuro look at each other during a press conference at Akasaka East Residence in Tokyo on Sept. 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, Pool, File)
On Oct. 26, 2021, Princess Mako, who’s the niece of Japan’s Emperor Naruhito, was forced to give up her royal title and benefits when she married Kei Komura in a no-frills ceremony due to Komura not being of royal descent, according to People.
“I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused, and I am grateful for those … who have continued to support me,” she said at her wedding, according to the BBC. “For me, Kei is irreplaceable — marriage was a necessary choice for us.”
Komuro and Maco moved to New York City in 2021 and welcomed their first child earlier this year.
Margrethe II of Denmark
Denmark’s Queen Margrethe and Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen attend a memorial ceremony in Gilleleje Church, in Gilleleje, Denmark, on Oct. 9, 2023. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who was the longest-running Scandinavian monarch after reigning for 52 years, stepped down as queen in 2024 so her son, King Frederik X, could assume the throne, People magazine reported.
