Not long after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made the decision to relinquish their roles as senior members of the royal family and move to North America in order to gain financial independence from the crown, the couple had their HRH titles stripped away.
At the time, it seemed like the normal protocol, seeing as though Prince Harry and Meghan were trying to distance themselves from the family.
However, the decision to remove their titles is not the normal protocol, as there are other ‘non-working’ members of the royal family who are not directly affiliated and have kept their HRH designation. So what was going on behind the scenes in this move?
No, Harry, you cannot change your name to The Ginge, formally known as Prince.
Related to what you're reading:— Prince Charles (parody) (@Charles_HRH) January 18, 2020
Two well-known examples of family members who have retained their HRH titles, despite not being active within the royal family are Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, both daughters of Prince Andrew. Princess Beatrice works as a senior vice president for a software company called Afiniti, while Prince Eugenie is the director of an art gallery in London.
Neither of Prince Andrew’s daughters has much responsibility when it comes to the royal family and only does so when prompted, although they may be called upon soon due to Prince Harry and Meghan’s departure. Still, the notion that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s titles were stripped is perplexing for royal experts.
“One hasn’t heard swear words of that nature from Her Majesty’s mouth since that time she stood on one of Prince George’s pieces of Lego.
At the current rate of departures, we’ll have to hold open auditions for some new Royals”. https://t.co/lkNtmAaQIF
— Prince Charles (parody) (@Charles_HRH) January 14, 2020
“It is bizarre that Princess Beatrice and Eugenie are allowed to retain the style, even though they are not working royals, yet the palace asked for Harry not use it,” royal author Nigel Cawthorne explains. “It makes no sense under the current system that Queen Elizabeth generally follows for her relatives.”
Initial reports of the HRH titles being removed came from reports that Prince Harry met with senior members of the royal family at Queen Elizabeth’s estate at Sandringham, with the queen making the decision. That no longer seems to be the case, though.
No, Harry, you won’t be able to rejoin the Royal Family if you leave. Megxit means Megxit.
— Prince Charles (parody) (@Charles_HRH) January 10, 2020
For many of the ‘royal watchers,’ the title stripping was a confusing move by Queen Elizabeth; however, there seems to be more behind the move than Her Majesty’s decision, if we’ll even call it that. It’s purported that it was Prince Charles who ultimately made the call to have the HRH titles removed from Prince Harry and Meghan.
As for the reasoning? It’s Prince Charles’ wish to slim down the monarchy, altogether. According to Express, the heir to the throne only wants the monarchy to be represented by a select few individuals. But why is this the case?
Royal transition in making America Great (Britain) Again:
– Prince Harry marries an American
– Archie is born
– They all ‘retire’ to USA
– Archie gets dual citizenship
– Archie becomes King
– Archie also elected as US President
– USA is once again ruled by an English King#Megxit pic.twitter.com/uNtUXwxmtw— Prince Charles (parody) (@Charles_HRH) January 8, 2020
The idea behind Prince Charles’ grand scheme is that fewer people representing the monarchy means less people that can potentially ’embarrass’ or cause problems within the establishment. Stripping the titles from Prince Harry and Meghan was a means to accomplish that goal, even if that meant doing it to his son.
“However, it is undoubtedly a shot across the bow by Prince Charles what will happen once he is king,” Cawthorne continued to explain. “He is saying to all the current HRHs I am prepared to take the style away from my own son, so don’t count on keeping it forever.”