Meghan Markle may have been mistaken about her son Archie’s royal title during her interview with Oprah Winfrey back in March. The Duchess of Sussex claimed that it was “different from protocol” for her child to not receive the title “prince” when he was born, suggesting that there was some ulterior motive for the shift. Now, her own biographer and royal expert Omid Scobie says that she may have been wrong.
Scobie co-authored Finding Freedom, and spoke about Markle’s mistake in the new Discovery+ documentary Harry and Meghan: Recollections May Vary. He said: “If we are only going by what Meghan said to Oprah and what the palace has said so far about the situation with Archie, perhaps one can assume that Meghan was wrong in her interpretation of it. But we also know that there is much more to this story that we don’t know about.” In her interview with Oprah, Markle’s comment about the royal title came in close proximity to her revelation that the palace had “concerns and conversations about how dark [Archie’s] skin might be when he’s born.”
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“They were saying 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 that he wasn’t going to receive security,” Markle said at the time. The implication was that racism played a big part in the decision to deprive Archie of his title, but so far that hasn’t been proven or confirmed. A report by The Independent attempts to explain the precedents in place that could have impacted this decision.
It goes back at least as far as 1917, when King George V declared that only the offspring of the monarch in the direct line of succession were entitled to the style of prince or princess, and “his royal highness” or “her royal highness” (HRH). According to this Letters Patent, That would mean Queen Elizabeth II‘s heir Prince Charles would get the style, as well as Charles’ eldest son Prince William and William’s eldest son Prince George.
However, Markle was more likely referring to another Letters Patent that Queen Elizabeth II published in 2012, declaring that all of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s children would be entitled to the titles of prince, princess and HRH. Her declaration did not specifically refer to Prince Harry or any of his offspring, since he was still a bachelor at the time.
Even sticking to King George V’s original declaration, Archie would have been granted the title “prince” when Prince Charles became king since he would be a direct grandchild of the reigning monarch. However, Markle’s commentary in the interview strongly implied that this would not have been the case, since she said: “they want to change the convention for Archie.” Markle and Prince Harry’s forthcoming daughter would also be entitled to her royal style at that time.
Scobie was careful to give both Markle and the palace the benefit of the doubt in his new interview, meaning the jury is still out on the true intentions behind Archie’s title. Markle is currently pregnant and is likely due to give birth some time soon.
