Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could reportedly be set to face a major setback as Prince William plans change that will also see him “shut the door” on his US-based nephew and niece, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. This comes after it was recently emerged that Harry, 40, and Meghan, 43, were still using their HRH titles, despite promising the late Queen Elizabeth II they would not do so.
King Charles has shown resistance despite calls to strip his youngest son and daughter-in-law of their royal titles, but William is understood to feel differently for when he later becomes monarch. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped down as senior working royals in 2020 – before moving to start a new life in the US.
This means that Archie, 6, and Lilibet, 4, will be affected by any change made by their uncle – with the lttle ones now reiding in the US with Harry and Meghan.
Reports suggested earlier this month that Harry was trying to keep HRH title for his children so that they have option to become part of the family when they are older.
Referred to this as a “beyond parody” by William’s friend, they told Daily Beast: “William obviously isn’t going to hire Archie and Lilibet. This is just trolling on the part of Harry and Meghan.”
Suggesting that HRH is not an offical title but a “style” of a way to address a member of the Royal Family, another friend of William’s said: “An HRH is bestowed by letters patent—which is basically a fancy way of saying it is a legally binding royal decree—and by precedent an HRH can be taken away by royal decree also.
“Look at Diana and Fergie. The HRHs weren’t removed ‘because they got divorced,’ the rules were quietly changed to remove HRHs from royal exes. There is a difference.
“They have asked the Sussexes politely to stop using the style, to no avail, so I imagine William will simply issue new letters patent to formally remove the entire family’s right to use HRH when he becomes King.”
The source added that William – who is next in line to the throne – will present the move as “part of a wider tidying up exercise to reduce, more broadly, the number of HRHs in circulation”.
It was previously thought that Harry and Meghan opted against using the ‘prince’ and ‘princess’ titles for their children, however, they first used the titles when announcing that their daughter had been christened in 2022.