Will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Titles Change After the Coronation?

(Image credit: Getty)

published 5 May 2023

Despite their step back in January 2020 as working members of the royal family, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have retained their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles, bestowed upon them by Her late Majesty on their wedding day, May 19, 2018. (Though their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, did not use formal titles until March of this year, their parents referred to their titles as their “birthright,” and the royal family then updated their names on its website from Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor and Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor to Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.)

When Harry’s father, King Charles, is crowned at the Coronation on May 6, does anything change as far as Harry and Meghan’s titles? Royal expert Christopher Andersen, author of The King: The Life of Charles III, tells Marie Claire exclusively that nothing will change in this regard: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will retain their titles, as will Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet,” he says. “Even though the King did not officially bestow these titles on Archie and Lili, as grandchildren of the monarch, they are automatically entitled to them. The children don’t have royal HRH [His or Her Royal Highness] status yet, however, and, given the strained relationship between the Sussexes and the rest of the royals, there doesn’t seem to be much of an appetite for giving it to them.”

Harry will be in attendance at the Coronation at Westminster Abbey in London; as Marie Claire previously reported, Meghan has opted to stay behind with the children at the Sussex home base in California, as May 6 also coincidentally happens to be Archie’s fourth birthday.

“I think Harry and Meghan have hit their peak when it comes to inheriting titles,” says Kinsey Schofield, host of “To Di for Daily” podcast, speaking to Marie Claire exclusively. “I really don’t see the King ever taking their titles away unless it becomes an act of Parliament and they pursue that with a vengeance or feels like something is in jeopardy for them. I don’t think they’ll ever lose their titles, to be honest.”

Rachel Bowie, cohost of Royally Obsessed, a Gallery Media Group podcast, echoes that sentiment: “I don’t see them being stripped of their titles, which everyone continues to call for,” she says.

If you're currently outside the U.K., you can use a VPN like ExpressVPN—which has a 30-day free trial—to watch the coronation live on the BBC, which aired Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953.

TOPICS

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

Missed this?

Stay In The Know