Prince William Could Follow in One European Queen's Title-Stripping Footsteps When He Takes the Throne, Says Diana Biographer

Prince William hasn’t been shy about his plans to modernize the monarchy when he eventually takes the throne. In October 2025, the Prince of Wales told actor Eugene Levy that “change for good” was on his “agenda,” and in his recent Substack, royal biographer Andrew Morton wondered if that might include removing titles of some of William’s family members.

Now that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be moving back to the U.K.—at least for the current school year, it seems—Morton wrote that King Charles’s “cautious embrace of his returning prodigal son” will likely ruffle feathers with Prince William.

The brothers haven’t spoken in several years following Prince Harry’s move to America and bombshell memoir, Spare. And with tensions still running high, Morton wrote that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are now “well on the way to getting what they wanted” of being “half-in, half-out” royals despite Queen Elizabeth’s wishes.

“The only way that Queen Elizabeth II’s decision can now be honoured is if their titles are stripped along with their children,” the Diana: Her True Story—In Her Own Words author wrote.

“Otherwise, they are working royals by proxy with all the freedom and earning power they wanted in the first place,” he added, referencing the couple’s commercial work that they plan to continue while living in the U.K. while also carrying out their private charity work.

Morton pointed to a controversial decision made by Denmark’s former monarch, Queen Margrethe, as an example of the path William might choose to take when he becomes King.

“It’s clear an ailing King Charles will not resolve this irreconcilable tension, but a future King William V may very well follow Queen Margrethe of Denmark, who stripped four of her grandchildren of their royal titles, and remove those of his brother and his cousins Beatrice and Eugenie,” Morton wrote.

Queen Margrethe has two sons, King Frederik and Prince Joachim, and in 2022, she announced that the titles of Joachim’s four children would be discontinued in an attempt to streamline the monarchy.

If Prince William took the same step and removed the titles of Prince Harry and Meghan, along with those of non-working royals Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, Morton says that he’d likely “find a public broadly supportive of such a measure.”

No matter what the Prince of Wales chooses to do in regards to his brother is anyone’s guess. But as Morton noted, “What happens next may surprise us, and it’s quite possible King William V will be all the better for a bit of sibling rivalry as he prepares for the job of a lifetime.”