There is no application form for the Royal Family. No interview, no appeal, few in the way of entrances or exits. It is that strange lottery, an accident of birth.
But to stay royal you have to do two things. Serve, and survive.
You have to do some service. Some of it ceremonial, and often dull. Some of it – if it involves celebrities or travel – less dull. A lot of it is woven into the civic life of the UK – openings, namings, lunches and dinners.
You have to survive. You have to aid – and certainly not threaten – the survival of the House of Windsor and the British monarchy.
It’s not a bad life. It is a constrained life, often unchosen. In exchange for a pretty comfortable standard of living in perpetuity, you lose a lot of choice.
But you must do these two things if you want to remain a royal.
And it’s not clear that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex really want to do either.
