Now that Queen Elizabeth II’s son, Charles, has become king, things have changed for the British royal family in more ways than one. As PEOPLE reported, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s children, Archie and Lilibet, are now entitled to prince and princess titles. The publication noted that they can now use these royal titles as they are the grandchildren of the current monarch.
Due to a rule established in 1917 by King George V (Elizabeth’s grandfather), grandchildren of the monarch are allowed to use “prince” and “princess” titles. The Letters Patent read, “…the grandchildren of the sons of any such sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have and enjoy in all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of dukes of these our realms.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
King Charles III will have the ability to change this rule if he wishes, as it has been rumored that he wants to “slim down” the royal family, as Us Weekly reported in March. Although, PEOPLE reported that it’s unlikely that he would do so. A source previously told the outlet, “Archie will almost certainly become a prince one day. Charles isn’t going to disavow his grandson, so it’s hugely unlikely that he’ll change the rules to stop it happening. The Charles also isn’t going to say that Archie can’t use the title any time soon.”
Even though Archie and Lilibet are allowed to use these titles, it’s unclear if they will. After all, Markle herself discussed this subject during her wide-ranging interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. At the time, she claimed the royal family did not want her firstborn to be titled as a “prince” or “princess.” She said, “They were saying they didn’t want him to be a prince or princess, which would be different from protocol, and that he wasn’t going to receive security. This went on for the last few months of our pregnancy where I was going, hold on for a second.” The Duchess of Sussex added that she would have wanted her child to have a title if it “meant he was going to be safe.”
Alas, she said that it was “not our decision to make.” Markle continued, “Even though I have a lot of clarity of what comes with the titles good and bad…that is their birthright to then make a choice about.” Now that Charles has become king, it will be interesting to see whether his grandchildren from Harry and Markle will be able to use these royal titles publicly.
