Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they were stepping back from their royal roles on January 8, 2020, but the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have retained their royal titles despite leaving the Royal Family
Prince Harry and Meghan frequently use their Duke and Duchess titles(Image: AP)
It was six years ago that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made the bombshell announcement that they were stepping back from their royal duties. The explosive revelation sent shockwaves across the globe as the couple laid out their plans to pack up their lives and relocate to the United States, seeking full financial independence.
Yet despite making this seismic decision back in January 2020, the pair still maintain one significant tie to the Royal Family — their royal titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The titles were bestowed upon them by the late Queen on their wedding day in 2018, and the couple continue to make frequent use of them.
However, many have questioned why the titles have not been stripped from them, particularly given that they no longer carry out any duties on behalf of the monarch King Charles.
Since stepping away from their royal roles, the couple have also made a string of allegations about their royal relatives in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, through their Netflix docuseries in 2022, and in Harry’s contentious memoir Spare. In the wake of these accusations, the Royal Family are said to have held discussions about removing their titles “at the highest level”.
However, during an interview with Anderson Cooper on US television while promoting Spare in early 2023, Harry was put on the spot about why he and Meghan had not relinquished their titles – particularly given how the couple had criticised their treatment while part of the Royal Family. And Harry delivered a blunt six-word response to the question, replying: “And what difference would that make?”
Mr Cooper added: “One of the criticisms that you’ve received is that okay, fine, you wanna move to California, you wanna step back from the institutional role. “Why be so public? Why reveal conversations you’ve had with your father or with your brother? You say you tried to do this privately.”
Harry responded: “And every single time I’ve tried to do it privately there have been briefings and leakings and planting of stories against me and my wife. You know, the family motto is ‘never complain, never explain’. But it’s just a motto. And it doesn’t really hold.”
One thing Harry did lose following Megxit, though, was his automatic entitlement to armed police protection while in the UK. The Duke and his family are reportedly just days away from arriving in Britain, where their security detail has been a major sticking point for Harry in the lead up to their trip.
As has been standard practice for the prince over the years when returning to the UK, Harry had to put in an official request for police protection throughout the duration of the trip – which will see Harry and Meghan mark the one year countdown to the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham – which is largely funded by the taxpayer.
However, it is believed that this request has been denied for the upcoming trip. Additionally, Harry has been waiting for several months for a review by the Risk Management Board (RMB), part of the process by which the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) rules on his security requirements, but found out last week that this has yet to take place.
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