- Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are stepping down as senior members of the royal family.
- It was just announced that they’re giving up their royal titles.
Update: January 18, 2020
Welp, it looks like TRH Harry and Meghan are no more. The palace just announced that they’ve come to an agreement with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle about their stepping down, and it looks like part of the deal was that they had to give up their royal titles. While the couple will retain the titles “Duke and Duchess of Sussex,” they won’t be using their HRH (aka His or Her Royal Highness) titles, as they won’t be working members of the royal family.
Per a statement from Buckingham Palace, “The Sussexes will not use their HRH titles, as they are no longer working members of the Royal Family” and the change will “take effect in the spring of 2020.”
Original story: January 9, 2020
Sooo in case ya missed the totally casual news, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced that they’re officially stepping down as “senior” members of the royal family yesterday. And the world has So! Many! Questions! But first on the list: Will the Sussexes get to keep their royal titles now that they’re no longer senior royals? Apparently, it’s kinda complicated.
Vanity Fair’s Katie Nicholl reports that Harry and Meghan “are not understood to want to relinquish their royal titles and will continue to be the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.” But here’s the thing: In their statement, they also said they want to be financially independent, which is where it could get tricky.
According to a source, “Nothing has been ruled in or out. It’s too early to say, but it is hard to have an HRH title while working on a commercial basis if that’s what they plan to do.”
Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice both have royal titles and have held down IRL jobs—but working in a “commercial” basis is different. The royals one hundred percent do *not* get paid to work with brands and can’t be seen to be influenced by sponsorship deals. Of course, Meghan and Harry might have no intention of going this route.
Either way, conversations are clearly at a very early stage. Buckingham Palace released a statement yesterday confirming as much, saying, “Discussions with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. We understand the desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through.”
