On their side. JJ Chalmers defended his good friend Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan‘s decision to “step back” as senior members of the royal family for their best interests.
The U.K. TV presenter, 33, became friends with the Duke of Sussex, 35, when they both served in the military. Chalmers explained during an interview on The One Show on Friday, January 10, that Harry’s decision makes sense because he now has to consider the well-being of his wife and child.
“He’s less the captain in the army I knew, and he’s more a father, that’s the first thing I ask him about,” Chalmers said. ” And I think the decision that he has made, at the forefront of that is to protect his family, because that’s the No. 1 rule is to be a father and to be a husband.”
The Invictus Games medalist added that Harry was taking into consideration his son’s potential feelings about the criticism they’ve received.
“I would say so, any husband wants to protect their wife and any father wants to protect their children,” Chalmers continued. “He is a very principled individual and so — when he looks at how the media reacts and how social media talks about someone — he has to answer to his son one day when he begins to understand this and be able to look him in the face and say, ‘I made the right decision and I did right by you.'”
Harry and the Duchess of Sussex, 38, dropped the bombshell announcement that they would be “stepping back” as senior members of the royal family on Wednesday, January 8.
“After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution,” the joint statement read via their Instagram account. “We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen. It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.”
The prince and Meghan explained that they “plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America,” giving their 8-month-old son Archie, “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, including the launch of our new charitable entity.”
Buckingham Palace, headed by Queen Elizabeth II, released a statement in response to the news saying that the royal couple are still in the “early stages” of their discussions.
“We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through,” the palace said.
The queen, 93, called an emergency meeting on Thursday, January 9, with Prince Charles and Prince William to address the situation.
“[They] have directed their teams to work at pace with governments and the Sussexes’ office to find workable solutions, and this is expected to take days, not weeks,” a source told Us Weekly on Thursday.
As Harry handles the royal drama in London, Meghan has returned to Canada to reunite with Archie, who has been under the care of her close friend Jessica Mulroney and a nanny while the pair were away.
