Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

Prince William will strip his exiled brother Prince Harry’s children of their HRH titles when he becomes king after a provocative briefing by the exiled royal “flabbergasted” royal insiders, The Royalist has learned.

The suggestion was tucked away in a report in the U.K. newspaper The Guardian almost 10 days ago, which reported: “The Guardian understands that Prince Harry wants to keep the HRH titles for his children so that when they grow older they can decide for themselves whether they want to become working royals, or stay out of public life.”

The formulation, “The Guardian understands…” is often used by the newspaper to report on a background briefing by authorized sources, such as PR teams.

The line about the HRH (His/Her Royal Highness) titles was not widely noticed by individuals in the royal circle until it was flagged by the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden this week, after which it flew around royal friends’ WhatsApp groups.

Reactions, on the whole, veered between dismissive and flabbergasted.

One friend of Prince William’s told The Daily Beast: “William obviously isn’t going to hire Archie and Lilibet. This is just trolling on the part of Harry and Meghan. It’s actually hilarious that no one even noticed it for ten days, until the Mail did it.

“The idea that somehow having a vestigial HRH as a baby later entitles you to be a working royal is beyond parody, even for them.

“Harry and Meghan were asked by the queen to stop using their HRHs, and agreed. Obviously, any reasonable person would understand that would mean your kids don’t use them either.

“The simple fact is that Meghan has gone back on the deal by using her HRH. It’s a straightforward betrayal of the deal, and if she now intends to start parading the kids as HRHs to aggrandize herself, it just adds to the case to remove them, legally, altogether.”

Another friend of the family also told The Daily Beast that they believed the HRHs would ultimately be officially removed.

The second friend said: “An HRH is a funny thing. It’s often referred to as a title, but it’s actually technically a ‘style,’ i.e., a way of addressing someone. It’s a courtesy. It denotes no official role and it bestows no formal rank in the British system, in the way being a duke or duchess does.

“An HRH is bestowed by letters patent—which is basically a fancy way of saying it is a legally binding royal decree—and by precedent an HRH can be taken away by royal decree also. Look at Diana and Fergie. The HRHs weren’t removed ‘because they got divorced,’ the rules were quietly changed to remove HRHs from royal exes. There is a difference.”

The friend added: “They have asked the Sussexes politely to stop using the style, to no avail, so I imagine William will simply issue new letters patent to formally remove the entire family’s right to use HRH when he becomes king.

“It will likely be presented as part of a wider tidying up exercise to reduce, more broadly, the number of HRHs in circulation. He could, for example, say that only working royals are entitled to use HRH, which seems sensible if you are trying to modernize, or specify that only children of the monarch are HRH, not the grandchildren, which would have the added advantage of making things clearer for their own kids’ families in due course.”

Norman Baker, a former government minister who has written extensively on royal and constitutional matters, previously told the Daily Beast: “As the bestowing of an HRH is in the gift of the monarch, the monarch could remove the HRH title. It would basically be the equivalent to an executive order in the U.S.”

Baker called for the Sussexes to be stripped of the honorifics at the time they quit the working family and has told the Daily Beast it was “a mistake” to not deal with the matter conclusively then.

A former courtier who retains good links with the palace told the Daily Beast: “The bottom line is that Harry and Meghan are abusing the fact that the queen trusted them to adhere to the deal made at the Sandringham Summit, and that won’t be allowed to stand, especially as we all know this is really about her ability to flog tat on Instagram.

“Charles may not want this fight, but William despises Harry and Meghan at this stage, and when he is king his fury will rain down on them.”

Meghan and Harry promised the late Queen Elizabeth they would stop using the HRH titles when they left the royal family in 2020, but Meghan has reneged on that promise, using the title privately and allowing others to address her by it.

Meghan’s side has argued that she is entitled to use the title, provided it’s not for commercial use.

A Meghan source previously told The Daily Beast: “Harry and Meghan retain their HRH titles; however, by agreement, they do not use them for commercial purposes. While they do not publicly use ‘HRH,’ this was a personal gift, and their titles remain.”

However, royal sources have told the Daily Beast that the deal that settled the terms of Meghan and Harry’s exit from the ranks of working royalty “made it clear they had agreed not to use the HRH titles at all, ever, in any capacity.”

The official statement, which can still be seen on the official royal website, clearly supports this interpretation. It reads: “The Sussexes will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the Royal Family.”

Neither Harry and Meghan’s office, nor Prince William’s office, responded to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.


Meghan and Harry promised the late Queen Elizabeth they would stop using the HRH titles when they left the royal family in 2020. / Chris Jackson/Getty Images


Princess Lilibet, seen in 2022, turned 4 earlier this month. / Handout/Courtesy of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex


Prince Harry reportedly wants to give Archie, seen as a baby and now 6, and Lilibet, 4, the chance to use their titles and become working royals if they so choose as adults. / Toby Melville - Pool/Getty Images


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