The trouble with all this is that we are not privy to conversations that took place between "senior royals" and the couple before, during and after the wedding. We have the word of Meghan that they were told only when she was pregnant with Archie that the protocol that would eventually have him made a prince (i.e., when Charles becomes king, not before) was going to be set aside, with all the negative implications regarding his future security and safety, as she saw it. If you choose to believe her expressed stance, and I see little reason not to believe it, she is far more concerned with Archie's future safety than with pomp and status. It's up to you whether you think that this couple, very much in the public eye, victims of the tabloids and living where they can, and will, be easily pinpointed, have a point. As for slimming down the royals, you're right to point out that Charles has been rattling on about it for donkeys' years. The trouble is, his mother won't die, and he has never properly articulated his notions in public. He's just asking to have the racism finger jabbed at him if Archie doesn't get his princely position. It seems clear that her maj is lukewarm about making big moves in the slimming-down direction, having set things in train in the opposite direction decades ago. Some rather quick changes will have to be put in place once the Queen dies if Charles is to get his way, and it will look even worse if he does piecemeal things such as denying Archie as a first move...