Please, no threadjacking! I promise that we will cover all of the royal stories in their own time. At the moment, we’re discussing this very odd report which came out over the weekend, ahead of Harry & Meghan: An African Journey. Almost as if *someone* wanted this story to be packaged alongside Harry and Meghan talking about how difficult it’s been to deal with the smear campaign. This is a story which, at a basic level, is about a young royal family setting boundaries and taking some time off. But of course it’s about a lot more than that too.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will take six weeks off from Royal duties for some ‘much-needed family time’, it was reported on Saturday night. The break follows Harry and Meghan’s ten-day tour of southern Africa, footage of which will be seen on ITV Sunday night in a documentary by broadcaster Tom Bradby. Speaking ahead of the programme, Mr Bradby, a friend of Harry, said he believed the couple are ‘vulnerable and bruised’. In the hour-long documentary, Harry reportedly voices his desire to leave the UK, describing Cape Town in South Africa as ‘an amazing place to be able to base ourselves’. He, however, acknowledged that such a move would be very difficult, if not impossible.

A Royal source told The Sunday Times: ‘The Duke and Duchess have a full schedule of engagements and commitments until mid-November, after which they will be taking some much-needed family time.’

The couple are expected to spend their first Christmas with their son Archie, who was born in May, with the Queen and other members of the Royal Family at Sandringham in Norfolk. It is understood they will fly to Los Angeles next month to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland.

[From The Daily Mail]

I think this is something that probably originally came from the Sussexes, like they told people at the palace that they were going to LA for Thanksgiving, and that they wanted a light, easy Christmas, and it got twisted – purposefully twisted – into “the Sussexes are taking six weeks off.” We’ve seen that happen before – people within Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace are super-eager to break news about the Sussexes and put a negative spin on every plan they make. Besides, they can’t really take off for six weeks – there are tons of royal appearances and royal events in November and December. Next we’ll hear the narrative of “well, the Sussexes were planning to take six weeks off but the Queen/Charles/William ordered them not to!”

Photos courtesy of Backgrid and WENN.