The website that Prince Harry and his wife Meghan developed as a showcase for their fresh business endeavors in California went offline on Thursday. Links to Meghan’s new podcast as well as mentions of their production deal and charitable activities were removed.

Instead, a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II could be seen on the homepage.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have lived in southern California beach communities since resigning from their official positions in the Windsor family hierarchy, thus the choice to cover a website in digital sorrow was both in accordance with the royal procedure and popular feeling.

The news of the queen’s passing on Thursday had made Ye Old King’s Head, an English pub and souvenir shop near the ocean in Santa Monica, a gathering place for both British ex-pats and sentimental Americans, according to Dusty Kerr, a 65-year-old from Leeds who has worked at the business for 23 years.

She remarked, “She’s well missed.”

There were many inquiries about what kind of king Charles would be as people bought commemorative teapots and tea towels and made toasts to the queen’s memory in the pub, according to Kerr, but she didn’t hear much about California’s most famous British expatriates.

Nobody has behaved negatively today, she claimed. It’s all about Elizabeth, so I haven’t heard much about that.

It’s unknown how much Elizabeth’s passing at the age of 96 will affect Harry and Meghan’s plans for their future in California. King Charles III endorsed their decision in his inaugural speech to the nation, adding, “I also want to convey my love for Harry and Meghan as they continue to construct their lives overseas.”

The couple founded Archewell, a collection of for-profit and nonprofit endeavors that promises to “unleash the power of compassion to achieve systemic cultural transformation,” and they currently reside in the celebrity haven of Montecito in a mansion that they reportedly paid $14.65 million for.

Barack and Michelle Obama struck a rumored $100 million, multi-year deal with Netflix to produce TV shows, movies, and children’s projects. This action is reminiscent of their post-White House goals.

Serena Williams, Mariah Carey, and Mindy Kaling are just a few of the American celebrity royalty Meghan has interviewed for her Archetypes podcast on Spotify.

The couple routinely speaks out on political matters and is involved in a number of humanitarian groups, including Harry’s Invictus Games. The New York Times reported in November 2021 that the couple was “getting into finance” and attempting to “make sustainable investing mainstream.”

Meghan was criticized for introducing herself as the “Duchess of Sussex” when she called Republican senators to advocate for paid family leave, and Harry, who had worked with academic experts on an Aspen Institute Commission on Information Disorder, claimed to have emailed Twitter’s then-CEO, Jack Dorsey.

The couple’s involvement with the Silicon Valley “Time Well Spent” movement spearheaded by the Center for Humane Technology is reflected in the Archewell website, which invites readers to share their own personal narratives and cautions them to be “mindful of screen time” and avoid spending too much time online.

The Sussex mission has been supported throughout by famous Californian friends including Oprah, Tyler Perry, and Serena Williams. Following Elizabeth’s passing, the head of the NAACP, a significant American civil rights organization, wrote them a particular message of sympathy, referring to them as “close friends and allies in our battle for a more just future.”

Given the upcoming publication of Harry’s memoir, which is expected to focus on the events surrounding Princess Diana’s passing and Harry and Meghan’s time in the UK before moving to California, more attention will likely be paid to the dynamics of the Windsor family and the potential role that these two royal dissidents may play in the 73-year-old Charles III’s reign.

If recent events are any indication, the Sussexes’ efforts may not be received well in both the UK and their new country. For instance, Paris Hilton lamented the passing of the queen by dubbing her “the original girl boss” in a tweet that also included a broken heart emoji.

With the release of her podcast, The Cut released a print profile of Meghan in recent weeks, giving readers a peek inside the family’s life in Montecito.

Meghan received “massive cheers” at the following speaking event in England despite the interview and her top-ranking podcast interviews drawing harsh condemnation in the British press and much snickering in the US.

Despite the backlash it has received, Jasmine Guillory, a New York Times bestselling novelist who has followed Meghan and Harry’s relationship, said she appreciated The Cut profile and is eager to see what Meghan does next.

Guillory remarked, “I love that she is writing her own story. Many people want her to back down, remain quiet, and avoid the spotlight, but that is not what she wants, and neither does Harry.

Harry and Meghan have recently been under fire for trying to create money “instead of just letting the money they inherited come to them,” Guillory claimed. Meghan has always been employed. She’s always worked.

The media coverage following the death of the queen revealed an all-too-familiar double standard, according to Katherine Fugate, the Los Angeles-based screenwriter of The Prince & Me, a 2004 romantic comedy starring Julia Stiles about an American woman who falls in love with a roguish European prince.

Meghan was criticized for making the exact same decisions that Kate had made without commentary.

In part because Prince Harry had evolved into the real-life version of “the prince in my narrative,” who “chose to follow love, and sort of violating the laws written a thousand years ago,” she continued to find the marriage “extremely inspirational,” like many other people around the world.

They are choosing love despite knowing what they are getting themselves into, according to Fugate. “I think of them as brave, and there are always others who fear bravery,” the speaker said.

Guillory, whose 2019 book Royal Holiday was inspired by the couple’s journey, said she can’t help but wish for Harry and Meghan to have some sort of Windsor family reconciliation, possibly one that takes place out of the spotlight.

I enjoy writing happy endings, the author admitted. I sincerely hope things improve between Harry and his family.

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