I woke up this morning and my phone had blown up overnight. The Daily Mail reported that Buckingham Palace called an emergency meeting last night. And so everyone started freaking out about what that could mean. As we all now know, Prince Philip has announced that he’ll be stepping down from official royal duties later this year. He is 95 years old. So I think we all get it. And the reason, I guess, that it was handled as an “emergency”. Because it’s unprecedented. People didn’t used to live that long. And while the royal family has a template for every procedure, I feel like this might be one of the few occasions they haven’t performed with as much frequency. To put it bluntly, those in his position don’t hang around long enough to retire. They expire. 

But before this was confirmed, of course the question was… WHAT IS IT OMG ARE PRINCE HARRY AND MEGHAN ENGAGED?

I’m not sure an emergency meeting at Buck House would have been necessary for an engagement. It’s entirely the wrong tone. And if – when? – Harry and Meghan do get engaged, I mean this family, more than anyone else, knows about timing. With Pippa Middleton’s wedding coming up in just a couple of weeks, it wouldn’t be this close. Because that, of course, would be the story. And Harry taking Meghan to the reception is already enough of a story – a story that Pippa, the bride, isn’t exactly a part of. The photo that everyone will want to see coming out of the wedding? It won’t be Pippa. It’ll be Princess Kate and Meghan standing side by side, possible future sisters-in-law.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves now. Harry and Meghan have been pretty quiet the last couple of weeks. She’s only just shut down The Tig and ended her partnership with Reitmans. She’s still working on Suits. There will probably need to be a longer separation from that part or those parts of her life and a few formal outings as the “official girlfriend”, just like Kate started joining William at certain events prior to their engagement, before we get to that point. But, as some have observed, they certainly seem to laying the track in that direction.

Here’s Prince Philip this morning, an hour after the announcement was made about his retirement, at an event at St James’s Palace: