Meghan MarkleandPrince Harry’s two children will someday inherit royal titles.
The couple are parents to 2-year-old son Archie Harrison and their newborn daughterLilibet Diana, who they welcomed on June 4. When the siblings' grandfatherPrince Charlessteps into the role of monarch upon the death ofQueen Elizabeth, the two children will likely become a prince and princess.
Under current guidelines, great-grandchildren of the monarch are not princes or princesses, except for children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, which is whyPrince WilliamandKate Middleton’s children arePrince George,Princess CharlotteandPrince Louis.
But whenPrince Charlesbecomes king, automatically the title of “prince” will be given to Archie and the title of “princess” will be given to Lili as the children of a son of the king.
Prince Charles.Peter Cziborra - WPA Pool/Getty
Meghan Markle, Prince Harry and Archie.Henk Kruger/AP/Shutterstock
“As the grandchildren of the Sovereign, they have the right to be upgraded to the style of His or Her Royal Highness. But that begs a question of whether Harry and Meghan want that,” Joe Little, managing editor ofMajestymagazine, previously told PEOPLE.
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Little continued: “Do they prefer what[Prince] Edwardand Sophie have, and not have their children as Their Royal Highnesses with a view to them leading relatively normal lives?”
Prince Charles and Prince Harry.Samir Hussein/WireImage
WhenPrince Harry, 36, and Meghan, 39, were married in May 2018, the Queen gave them the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Archie was entitled to the “courtesy title” of Earl of Dumbarton upon his birth. However, the couple announced that they had not given him a courtesy title and he would be known as Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. Down the line, Archie could be given the secondary Sussex title, before inheriting the dukedom.
During Meghan andPrince Harry’s interview withOprah Winfrey, which aired in March, the Duchess of Sussex revealed there was a conversation about titles ahead of Archie’s birth.
“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,” Meghan said. “This went on for the last few months of our pregnancy where I was going, hold on for a second.”
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Meghan went on to say she would have accepted a title for Archie if it “meant he was going to be safe.”
“And it’s not our decision to make,” she said. “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.”
source: people.com
