Since the death of the queen on September 8, tensions have reportedly been brewing once again in the royal family. This time, disagreements about royal titles may be causing the strife.
According the The Sun, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are hurt and upset that their two children, Archie and Lilibet, won't be granted His/Her Royal Highness (HRH) titles. While King Charles III reportedly agreed to bestow the titles of prince and princess on the children, a week later he refused to allow them to be known as HRH.
Those titles were taken from Harry and Meghan when they decided to step back from their royal duties in 2020.
Some tensions were to be expected as Harry and Meghan joined the royals to pay their respects to the queen. But this disagreement seems to be a fairly big one. While the children of Harry and Meghan were not officially given titles at birth, now that Charles is king, he could allow them to use a title.
According to an insider, there have been tense talks over the issue. “That is the agreement — they can be prince and princess but not HRH because they are not working royals,” they said. They noted that the conversation has been pretty ongoing since the queen died and Charles took his place as king.
While it's definitely bound to cause an even bigger riff, it's definitely not the first blow to Harry and Meghan. Prince Harry was stripped of his honorary military titles and royal patronage appointments when he and Meghan stepped back from royal life. Meghan also gave up her royal patronage appointments. Those decisions were made after tough conversations between Harry and the queen.
“In stepping away from the work of the royal family,” the palace said at the time, “it is not possible to continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service.”
They continued, “While we are saddened by their decision, the Duke and Duchess remain much loved members of the family.”
For Harry, the transition seems to have been painful. While the couple seemed confident in their decision to step away from royal life and move to the US, giving up his military titles, which he held so dear, must have been a challenge.
The queen allowed the couple to keep the titles Duke and Duchess of Sussex. However, they agreed to stop using His Royal Highness and Her Royal Highness in all of their ventures.
According to an insider, Meghan and Harry have been pushing for their children to be granted the same titles as the king's other grandchildren. "They have been relentless since the Queen died," the insider said, saying they "have been insistent that Archie and Lilibet are prince and princess.
"But they have been left furious that Archie and Lilibet cannot take the title HRH."
In Meghan and Harry's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey after they stepped back from royal life, they suggested that Archie and Lilibet did not receive titles because of their race. At the time, Meghan said that “the idea of the first member of color in this family not being titled in the same way that the other grandchildren” was concerning and painful.
Meghan revealed that baby Archie wouldn't be given the same security, and revealed there were conversations about "how dark his skin might be when he’s born."
