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Meghan, Duchess of Sussex speaks onstage during the Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen panel during the 2024 SXSW Conference and Festival at Austin Convention Center on March 08, 2024 in Austin, Texas.
Photo by Gary Miller/Getty Images

Why we might have to start calling Meghan Markle ‘Princess Henry,’ explained

It's all thanks to an old royal tradition.

There’s a chance that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could be stripped of their royal titles after angering King Charles and William. And, if this does actually happen, it could result in a pretty weird name change for Markle.

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The couple infamously stepped back from their royal roles back in 2020, and the possibility of having their titles removed has always been a possibility. In fact, they’ve already been stripped of their HRH titles. Speaking to Fox News Digital, royal expert Kinsey Schofield spoke about what would happen if the couple’s duke and duchess titles really were taken away: “if you strip Harry and Meghan of the Duke and Duchess title… they would revert to being Prince and Princess Henry.”

Why would Meghan Markle’s new title become Princess Henry?

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leaves after attending the National Service of Thanksgiving to Celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen at St Paul's Cathedral on June 3, 2022 in London, England.
Photo via WPA Pool / Getty Images

At first, the new name kind of seems a little bit baffling. After all, if she’s losing her royal title, why is she still a Princess? And why call her Henry? Where does that name even come from? There are a lot of questions, but it all starts to make sense when you look into it.

So, let’s start with the title of ‘princess.’ Right now, Meghan and Harry’s royal titles are the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. That is the title that would be stripped, and if such a thing were to ever actually happen, they would revert back to their prince and princess titles. According to Schofield, the prince title cannot be removed, seeing as that is a birthright of Harry’s, and only an act of parliament could take it away. That being said, there is a conservative MP trying to get that bill pushed through.

But why would we suddenly have to start calling Meghan Prince Henry? Well, for those who don’t know, Harry’s full name is actually Henry Charles Albert David, meaning if he were to revert back to the status of prince, he would be called Prince Henry. As for Meghan, it’s a royal tradition that a princess should take on her Husband’s official title with his name, meaning she would become Princess Henry. It’s kind of strange, but traditions usually are a bit weird – especially when it happened to Kate Middleton as well, with her title technically being Princess William after she married the prince in 2011.

How likely are Meghan and Harry to lose their titles?

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games Düsseldorf 2023 at Merkur Spiel-Arena on September 16, 2023 in Duesseldorf, Germany. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation)
Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation

For now, it seems that the pair are relatively safe. According to the Mirror, the Editor in Chief of Majesty Magazine, Ingrid Seward, stated that taking away their titles would make for some bad PR for the Royal family: “it looks unkind, it looks unnecessary.” The new titles would also be a bit confusing for the public, who may not be familiar with royal tradition. Of course, Markle is collecting royal titles like infinity stones at the moment anyway, with the duchess recently being given a new title during her tour of Nigeria.


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Author
Image of Jordan Collins
Jordan Collins
Jordan is a freelance writer who has been featured in a number of publications. He has a Masters in Creative Writing and loves telling that to anyone who will listen. Aside from that he often spends time getting lost in films, books and games. He particularly enjoys fantasy from The Legend of Zelda to The Lord of the Rings.