It’s internet official: Palace upgrades Harry and Meghan’s kids to prince and princess
It’s internet official: Prince Harry’s children are now formally a prince and princess.
Britain’s Buckingham Palace confirmed Wednesday that Archie and Lilibet would be able to use their new royal titles, an announcement that came after Harry and his wife, Meghan, introduced their daughter by appropriating the princess moniker following her Friday christening at their Montecito, Calif., home.
“The children’s titles have been a birthright since their grandfather became Monarch,” a representative for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex told the BBC. “This matter has been settled for some time in alignment with Buckingham Palace.”
Representatives for the Sussexes did not immediately respond Thursday to The Times’ requests for comment.
After months of confusion, the Sussexes’ christening announcement marked the first time one of their children was publicly referred to with a royal title.
The new titles were triggered when Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, died in September and his dad, King Charles III, acceded to the throne. But the palace did not immediately update its website listing the royal line of succession with their proper titles until after the Sussexes used the moniker for Lilibet.
By Thursday, the children of the duke and former “Suits” actor had their names changed from Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor and Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor to Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex, respectively.
Three-year-old Archie and 21-month-old Lilibet are sixth and seventh in line to ascend the British throne, following their uncle Prince William, his three young children and Harry.
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Notably, Archie and Lilibet were not styled as a prince or princess at birth because they were not yet grandchildren of the reigning monarch due to a rule established by King George in 1917. Their first cousins — Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis — didn’t automatically get their titles until Queen Elizabeth II amended the rules with a 2012 decree, the Associated Press reported. But it did not yet apply to Harry and Meghan’s children.
The title change might appear like a nominal olive branch in the tumultuous trans-Atlantic saga between the Sussexes and Buckingham Palace. Public relations have been tense among them since Harry and Meghan announced in 2020 that they would be stepping back as working royals and moving to Meghan’s native Southern California, seeking privacy, distance from the ravenous British media and other professional endeavors.
But in the years since, the couple has blasted the royal family with Harry’s candid memoir, “Spare,” their recent Netflix docuseries, Meghan’s “Archetypes” podcast, as well as their bombshell 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview, during which Meghan raised the concerns about their titles.
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Questions about whether Harry will attend his father’s May 6 coronation have also been swirling. A spokesperson for the couple confirmed this week that Harry received an invitation from the king but had not yet made a decision about whether he and Meghan would attend. Last week, the couple had been “requested to vacate their residence at Frogmore Cottage” in Britain, signaling again that all is still not well among the royals.
Harry also told the Telegraph in January that his bestselling book was originally twice the length of the final version, but he held back further unflattering disclosures about his father and his brother, who would not “ever forgive” him if they were made public.
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