According to a royal specialist, King Charles is eager to formally bestow prince and princess titles on the children of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but ‘there is a caveat, and that caveat is trust’.
Katie Nicholl addressed rumors over whether Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1, will be recognized by the new names.
The Sussex children are legally entitled to them as the monarch’s grandchildren following the passing of the Queen, who passed away peacefully at Balmoral on September 8 at the age of 96.
However, as Katie pointed out, the kids are still labeled as “Master” and “Miss” on the royal website.
Katie explained: ‘One of the interesting things that came out in all this was the speculation about titles, and Archie and Lilibet … whether they would officially be acknowledged as Prince and Princess, the titles owed to them when Charles became King…’
She continued: ‘They remain ‘Miss’ and ‘Master’ currently [on the Royal Website].
Due to regulations established by King George V in 1917, Archie and Lilibet were too far down the line of succession to be given the titles of prince and princess when they were born.
However, due to the Queen’s passing, they are now considered the monarch’s grandchildren rather than great-grandchildren and are allowed to use the titles prince and princess and HRH.
They won’t receive the HRH titles, it has been alleged, because they are non-working royals.
According to royal authority Phil Dampier, allowing them to become a prince and princess but not HRH would “be a classic compromise.
He said: ‘The same thing happened to Diana and Fergie after they were divorced from Charles and Andrew. And of course Sarah Ferguson is still the Duchess of York today.
‘Harry and Meghan should be pleased as using prince or princess sounds good in the States.
‘But even though their children are still high up in the line of succession they will not be working royals, so it’s quite right they shouldn’t have [HRH] titles.’
It was earlier reported that Harry and Meghan were concerned about the security situation and that as prince and princess, they are entitled to specific levels of royal security. Over the past week, there have been several conversations.
But they are upset that Archie and Lilibet cannot assume the title HRH.
They can be prince and princess but not HRH because they are not employed as working royals, according to the agreement.
Royal editor Russell Myers, who also appeared on the episode, said there is still some distrust between the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Sussexes.
He said: ‘I’ve spoken to someone very close to William and Kate, and they said, “Don’t be fooled by this” [the time the couples spent together following the death of the Queen].
‘I know that everybody wants them to come together and to have this big truce, but the truce is very much temporary. [The truce] was for the Queen. The Queen was always about unity, especially of her family.
‘And she would have wanted the boys to come together, and certainly, William extended that invitation to the Sussexes to come forward and take part in that walkabout. But as far as [William] is concerned, there is still an awful lot of distrust in the camp.’