Will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Kids Have Official Royal Titles?

There's no doubt that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's baby (opens in new tab) will be a little prince or princess in all of our hearts. There is still plenty of doubt, however, about if that baby will officially be a little His or Her Royal Highness (opens in new tab).

In the end, like so many other things in the royal family, it will all come down to what Queen Elizabeth II feels like doing. Here's how it works: For the longest time, with the exception of the first son of the Prince of Wales (right now, of course, that's Prince Charles and his firstborn son, Prince William (opens in new tab)), no new royal was really guaranteed a fancy pants HRH title. Before Prince George was born in 2013, the Queen changed the rules to include all of the kids of the direct heir. This is why Charlotte is officially, and automatically, a princess.

Unlike William, however, Harry is not directly in line for the throne. In order for Harry to become King Harry, there would have to be several abdications or a lot of tragedy—neither of which is likely. That means, of course, that it's even less likely that Harry's kids will ever assume the throne. As a result, their HRH titles are not automatic or guaranteed, but at the Queen's discretion.

And, according to Express (opens in new tab), there are rumblings that Elizabeth won't bestow a royal title on Harry and Meghan's kids (opens in new tab). This is probably not a snub from the Queen, however. If Harry and Meghan's kids don't get the HRH title, it's probably because they didn't want the kids to have it.

“I am determined to have a relatively normal life, and if I am lucky enough to have children they can have one too," Harry explained in 2017. "We don’t want to be just a bunch of celebrities but instead use our role for good."

There's precedent for this, too. Will and Harry's cousins don't all have official royal titles. Prince Andrew reportedly wanted princess titles for his daughter, Eugenie and Beatrice, so they got them. Princess Anne's kids, Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips, however, don't have them. So it's clear that Elizabeth takes the parents' preference into consideration.

If it's not Harry and Meghan's choice, it might come down to Prince Charles' preference.

"Charles might have decided only the children of his eldest son are to be HRH," a source said, according to Express (opens in new tab).

We'll just have to wait and see, of course, if Harry and Meghan's kids use a royal title or not.