Harry and Meghan’s children officially recognised as prince and princess by Royal Family as couple say it’s their ‘birthright’
Harry and Meghan’s children have been named prince and princess on the Royal Family’s website as the couple said it was their “birthright”.
It comes after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex publicly used the titles prince and princess for Archie and Lilibet for the first time.
They used the title princess for their daughter, known as Lili for short, when she was christened in Los Angeles on Friday.
Harry and Meghan’s children became a prince and princess when the King acceded to the throne, but they had remained “master” and “miss” on the Buckingham Palace website for the last six months.
Now the succession list on the website has been updated to reflect the change – with Archie and Lilibet listed as Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.
Previously they featured on the line of succession page as Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor and Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor.
It comes after a spokesman for the Sussexes is reported in US and UK press to have said: “The children’s titles have been a birthright since their grandfather became Monarch. This matter has been settled for some time in alignment with Buckingham Palace.”
Title rules set out by King George V in 1917 gave the children and grandchildren of a sovereign the automatic right to the HRH, prince and princess titles.
When Archie was born, he was the great-grandchild of a sovereign rather than a grandchild, so was not given the title.
However, when the Queen died and her son King Charles acceded to the throne, it meant Archie and Lilibet were entitled to be a prince and princess.
They are also entitled to use the HRH style – however, despite Harry and Meghan retaining their HRH styles, they no longer use them after leaving the working monarchy.
It is understood the titles will be used in formal settings but not in everyday conversational use.
As such, the announcement of Lilibet’s baptism in California was the first opportunity to use her title since the death of the Queen.
Harry and Meghan were keen not to deny their children their birthright, but wanted to allow them the chance to decide for themselves when they are older whether to drop or keep using the royal titles.
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In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, Meghan complained that Archie was not automatically given the title of prince.
“They didn’t want him to be a prince or princess, not knowing what the gender would be, which would be different from protocol, and [said] that he wasn’t going to receive security,” Meghan said.
Asked if she was bothered if her son was not going to be given the title, she said: “All the grandeur surrounding this stuff is an attachment I don’t personally have. I have been a waitress, an actress, a princess, a duchess, and I’ve always just been Meghan.
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“The most important title I will ever have is Mom but the idea of our son not being safe and also the idea of the first member of colour in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be.”
She said the convention of whether her children would be princes or princesses was changed while she was pregnant: “It’s not their right to take it away… while I was pregnant they said they want to change the convention for Archie. Well, why?”