Valid reason Meghan Markle is 'not a princess' despite calling herself one once
The Duchess referred to herself as a princess in a bombshell interview...The Duchess of Sussex has never been known as Princess Meghan Markle – despite her technically having several royal titles after marrying Prince Harry, why is that?
We look into the royal protocol behind those who marry into the royal family, following the drama over the Sussexes keeping their titles after stepping down from The Firm.
Why was Meghan Markle not a princess when she married Prince Harry?
It is a simple and savage reason, but Meghan Markle wasn’t a princess after she married Harry because she didn’t have ‘royal blood’. She couldn’t call herself Princess Meghan due an old royal tradition about spouses within The firm.
It’s the same reason why Catherine (Kate) Middleton wasn’t Princess Kate when she married Prince William. Although she was granted Her Royal Highness title, and was gifted the title of Duchess of Cambridge by the late Queen on her wedding day, she wasn’t Princess Kate. Kate could have opted to become Princess William of Wales, but her Duchess of Cambridge titled preceded it.
It may also seem old fashioned within the modern monarchy to be named after your spouse.
Catherine and Meghan Markle were not of royal blood, and the rule applied to both of them.
Read more: When Harry met Meghan – How a royal prince kept his romance ‘secret’
Other royals had the same treatment
It’s also why Lady Diana Spencer was not officially Princess Diana when she married Charles. She was Diana, the Princess of Wales, and fans began calling her Princess Diana due to the fact, but technically she wasn’t. Kate has had the same treatment. After becoming the Princess of Wales in September 2022 following Charles ascension to the throne, she is now called Princess Kate – but is not a princess, technically (unless she goes by Princess William of Wales, or Catherine, Princess of Wales).
Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, was never known as Princess Sarah after marrying Prince Andrew and the Duchess of Edinburgh was not Princess Sophie.
However, those of royal blood, Kate and William’s daughter Charlotte, and Andrew’s children Eugenie and Beatrice, are princesses due to this birthright.
Queen made an exception for her husband
However, the late Queen’s husband, Prince Philip, was not a prince when he married into the royal family. Although he was a prince in some countries in Europe before be wed the monarch in 1947, he wasn’t officially in Britain.
King George VI at the time created the title the Duke of Edinburgh for their wedding.
But it was 10 years later, the Queen “accorded him the style and title of a Prince of the United Kingdom”.
She also had the power to make Kate and Meghan Markle a princess in their own right, but likely didn’t due to royal protocol and tradition.
Meghan Markle said she is a ‘princess’ during Oprah Winfrey interview
During her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, when pregnant with Princess Lilibet, Meghan called herself princess. But did not clarify Princess Henry when doing so.
The primetime tell-all chat covered the reason the royals left The Firm and allegations against the family over how the Sussexes were treated.
The moment came when she claimed ‘protocol’ had been changed when she was pregnant with Prince Archie.
She said: “They were saying they didn’t want him to be a prince, and that he wasn’t going to receive security.
Read more: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s surname drama explained and how royal family would take ‘action’
“He needs to be safe so we’re not saying don’t make him a prince or princess, but if you’re saying the title is what’s going to affect that protection, we haven’t created this monster machine around us in terms of clickbait and tabloid fodder you’ve allowed that to happen which means our son needs to be safe.”
She went on to say her most important title was to be a mum.
Meghan Markle added: “I’ve been a waitress, an actress, a princess, a Duchess—I’ve always still just been Meghan, right? I’ve been clear on who I am, independent of all that stuff, and the most important title I’ll ever have is mom. I know that.”
She added ‘all the grandeur’ is something she doesn’t ‘personally have’.
What are her full titles?
After marrying Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and their two children are in line to inherit the throne after William and his three children, but the former Suits actress herself is not.
She has three titles through her marriage, with the most commonly known being the Duchess of Sussex title. This Sussex title was gifted to the couple on the morning of their wedding day by the late Queen. The monarch did the same for William and Kate for their nuptials, when she gave them the Cambridge title.
The Sussex title is not linked to their status as ‘working royals’ within The Firm. As they were a gift, they were not taken away when they left to live in America in 2020.
Royal dukedoms take precedence over other titles.
After she tied the knot, she gained the style of Her Royal Highness, granted by letters patent, alongside HRH Prince Harry. It’s part of the same King George V convention set out in 1917, when the previous monarch laid out who would be ‘prince’ or ‘princess’ in their own right within the royal family.
However, it was agreed with Buckingham Palace that the couple would no longer use their HRH titles when they stepped down, but legally, they retain them.
Meghan recently was under fire when it was discovered she had used the HRH title privately when she sent a gift basket to a friend.
She could be known as Princess Henry
Meghan Markle’s third title is Princess Henry of Wales (Harry’s real first name), but is known by her Duchess of Sussex title as it takes precedence. Wives of princes who do not have subsidiary titles or dukedoms are known by ‘Princess’ and their husband’s name. For example, Princess Michael of Kent, who married Prince Michael of Kent in 1978. At the time, Charles was the Prince of Wales, but when William became the new royal with the title, by tradition, Harry and Meghan dropped the Wales suffix.
The royal is also the Countess of Dumbarton, in connection to the Scottish title bestowed on Harry by his grandmother, the Earl of Dumbarton. Prince Archie had the right to use his father’s secondary title as his own, however, the parents chose to go with Master Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
Lastly, Harry also was given a Northern Irish title by the late queen, Baron KilKeel, and Meghan has held the title Baroness Kilkeel since her marriage as well.
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