Six years after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped back from royal life, King Charles has formally confirmed what circumstance had long made plain: the couple will remain outside the working structure of the British monarchy. The declaration closes a period of institutional ambiguity that began in January 2020, when the pair departed for California and began building an independent life incompatible with the protocols of official royal service. In naming the arrangement permanent, Charles signals not merely a family decision but a quiet acknowledgment that institutions, like people, must s