There has been a lot of talk recently about stripping Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, of their titles. Many of their critics feel that they no longer deserve them, due to the fact that the couple have left the UK and will no longer work as senior royals. The fact is, though, that they are still entitled to use their titles - more information on why that is can be found here- and will continue to do so. But hypothetically, if The Queen did decide to revoke their rights to the Duke and Duchess titles, Harry and Meghan's naysayers would get far, far more than they bargained for thanks to the complex rules of the monarchy.
Harry and Meghan were made a Duke and a Duchess on their wedding day. But Prince Harry was born a Prince, and he always will be one. This is a matter of birthright, and cannot be revoked. If he was forced to give up the title of Duke, he would simply go back to being addressed as Prince Harry (which, to be honest, most people call him anyway, especially in the US). And Meghan, as his wife, would be entitled to go by the Princess title due to their marriage. It's much the same as the Prince of Kent, who holds no royal titles or HRH status, but was born into royalty. His wife, then, has Princess status, and goes by Princess Michael of Kent.
It was all explained over the weekend by history professor, author and general royal expert Kate Williams. 'Cries to remove titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex from Harry and Meghan,' she wrote on Twitter. 'But Harry’s title of Prince cannot be removed. Thus if they were no longer Duke and Duchess, they’d be Prince and Princess. Which would, one might argue, be even more appealing on the world stage. Meghan’s title would be Princess Henry of Wales. That is her title through marriage but she does not use it now due to the Sussex titles. But if the Sussex titles [were] removed, she would be quickly called in general speech Princess Meghan or indeed Princess Meghan of Wales...'
So, if Meghan ceased to be a Duchess she would still be a Princess, and while she would officially be called Princess Harry of Wales she would, inevitably, become quickly known as Princess Meghan by the general public. And, as Kate points out, this would surely make her even more powerful globally: Princess is a far more impressive title than Duchess, don't you think?
So if you are one of the people calling for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to be stripped of their titles, you might want to take a step back. First of all, you should consider why you haven't been so vocal about Prince Andrew keeping his Duke of York status. But secondly, because in supporting efforts to make Harry and Meghan less powerful, you would actually be making them even more so. The monarchy, eh? It's a tangled web.
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