Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, told Oprah Winfrey that the palace decided to deny her son his birthright to be a prince because he is mixed race.
But a report in The Guardian, citing a 104-year-old royal protocol, said great-grandchildren of British monarchs are not entitled to be prince or princesses. The only exception are the children of Prince William, because he is in the direct line to become king.
During her two-hour CBS interview, Meghan expressed dismay to learn when she was pregnant that Archie would not get police protection because he did not have a title.
When Archie was born in 2019, he was given the less regal name Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. According to reports at the time, it was presumed that Meghan and Harry didn’t care about him being a prince because they wanted him to have a more normal childhood without the burden of being a prince. (The surname reflects Prince Philip’s family name and the Windsor name adopted by George V during World War I.)
The British public assumed Harry and Meghan were following a precedent set by Princess Anne, who rejected the queen’s offer to give royal titles to her children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall because she felt there were “downsides to having titles,” as she told Vanity Fair.
But Meghan insisted to Winfrey “it was not our decision” for Archie not to receive a title. She was clearly upset at the “idea of the first member of color in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be.”
Meghan said: “In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, so we (had) the conversation (that) he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title.”
It was in this context that Meghan made the explosive allegations that an unidentified member of the royal family expressed “concerns … about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.”
Overnight the racism allegations made by Meghan and Harry launched headlines around the world and overwhelmed media conversations about the royal family. But even if there were family concerns about Archie’s race, the report by the Guardian and other royal experts said he wouldn’t have been considered for a title.
Titles in the royal family are based on a document known as the 1917 Letters Patent, issued by King George V, The Guardian reported. Under this protocol, only the children and grandchildren of a sovereign have the automatic right to the title HRH and prince or princess.
That right doesn’t extend to great-grandchildren, though Elizabeth issued new Letters Patent in 2012 when Archie’s cousin, George, was born. Her letters stipulated that all children of the Prince William and Kate Middleton would have royal status.
They are the children of a future monarch, whereas Archie is not. Harry is sixth in line to the throne will move down the line of succession if William and Kate have more children, and as George, Charlotte and Louis have children of their own.
But George V’s declaration still means that Archie and his sister could become a prince and princess when their great-grandmother, Elizabeth, dies and their grandfather, Prince Charles, accedes the throne.
Meghan and Harry acknowledged that Archie is still in line to become a prince when Charles becomes king. But they also said they had been told that protocols would be changed, in line with Charles’s wish for a slimmed-down monarchy. They said that means Archie could be excluded from becoming a prince.
Meghan insisted that she only cared about Archie being a prince because it could qualify him for police protection.
“If it meant he was going to be safe, then of course,” Meghan said.
She added: “All the grandeur surrounding this stuff is an attachment I don’t have. I’ve been a waitress, an actress, a princess, a duchess. I’m clear on who I am, independent of that stuff. The most important title I will ever have is ‘Mom.'”
But The Guardian also reported that extended members of the royal family do not have the automatic right to police security. For example, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice no longer have taxpayer-funded security. The decision of which family member gets police protection is made by the family, the U.K. government and London’s Metropolitan police.
