Harry and Meghan wanted to be 'half in, half out' of monarchy when they quit as senior royals

While announcing their decision to quit as senior members of the British royal family in January last year, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had vowed to keep supporting the British monarchy. Contrary to their words, the couple launched an attack against Buckingham Palace levelling serious allegations against them including those of racism.

The updated version of "Finding Freedom," a biography detailing the couple's exit as working royals, suggests that they initially did want to balance their royal duties and financially independent careers. However, the events following their decision to quit caused them to reconsider their plans.

In a recent conversation with People magazine, the book's co-author Omid Scobie said that Harry and Meghan initially tried to "find a way to compromise" with the royal family where they can be "half in, half out" in regard to their royal roles. The couple found leaving their royal lives "harder than they would ever have imagined," but decided to cut all ties over fears that they wouldn't be able to pursue their own "financial endeavours and business decisions" if they tried to take the Crown's permission.

It was also the arrival of their first child, son Archie in May 2019, that gave the Duke and Duchess of Sussex "that energy to stand up for what was right for them, regardless of what the consequences were."

The duo has now landed multiple career options, including writing and lucrative streaming and podcast deals with Netflix and Spotify. They have also been working on public-speaking careers on the sidelines. In addition, the Duke of Sussex secured a job as "chief impact officer" at BetterUp Inc., a $1.73 billion San Francisco-based mental health coaching start-up, and joined the Commission on Information Disorder set up by Aspen Institute to tackle fake news.

According to Scobie, the couple were not sure that they would be able to achieve this career when they resigned from their positions. The author said they were "quite afraid of the consequences of stepping away and challenging the system." Also, in spite of their lucrative careers and new charitable foundation, the couple have admitted being devastated about losing their royal roles and patronages, especially Harry's honorary military titles.