Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Just Got Their Official Royal Titles & They're Everything
The big day is here royal family stans! After what's felt like a million years of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle being the cutest pair known to man on their royal tour around England (and a fair share of family drama), Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are getting married and the answer to the question we've all been asking for the past six months is finally here: What are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's official royal titles?
Well, the answer is finally here! But first, let's address the burning question of why Meghan won't simply be called Princess Meghan. In a perfect world, marrying a prince would make you a princess — end of story. Sadly, nothing royal is that simple. That's right: The royal rulebook dictates that to become a princess in your own right, you must be born the daughter of a prince.
What can I say? Life's not fair.
Still, Meghan's not walking out of St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle titleless. While she won't officially be a princess, she'll still be the next best royal thing — a duchess!
The Queen of the United Kingdom just announced that once Prince Harry and Meghan Markle say "I do," they will henceforth be known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, confirming the titles that royal enthusiasts have long been speculating the couple would receive.
This news isn't exactly surprising. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and his wife, Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, got the same royal treatment after her nuptials to Prince William. Ooooooh. Aaaaah.
You can kind of consider Meghan a princess if you consider the fact that her fancy-schmancy styled title will be Her Royal Highness Princess Henry of Wales, Duchess of Sussex. Yup, you read that right. She has to use Prince Harry's name when referred to as a princess. Long story short, Meghan will never be Princess Meghan, which kinda sucks if you ask me.
But just because Meghan isn't officially Princess Meghan doesn't mean she's not a princess in our hearts. Because, see, our hearts — they have minds of their own.
I mean, I had to do a lot of Googling to even understand all of these layers upon layers of royal rules barring Meghan from being a bonafide princess, but that's all brain stuff. My heart is more than happy to pretend I don't know any of that info and revert right back to my grade school, Disney-princess-movie understanding of royalty. It can pretty much be summed up as: You kissed a prince, you's a princess.
From where I'm standing, most of this royal title business is based on how the Queen is feeling. When Prince Harry's mom, Diana, Princess of Wales, divorced Charles, Prince of Wales (there's a whole lot of Markle-family level royal drama behind that as well), she almost didn't lose her styling of Her Royal Highness (HRH) Princess of Wales.
According to The New York Times, the Queen wanted to let Princess Diana continue to use the HRH, but Prince Charles was "adamant" that she lose the honor — which would separate her from the royal family (and would technically mean she had to curtsy to her own sons in the future).
She lost the HRH and, instead, her title was styled as Diana, Princess of Wales. Prince William, who was 14 at the time, is said to have comforted her by promising to give it back, saying, "Don't worry, Mummy, I will give it back to you one day when I am king." And honestly, I'm sobbing just thinking about his pure little heart!
But it was all a technicality in the end, because the Queen pretty much said she was every bit as royal as ever despite her divorce, and would continue to be "regarded as a member of the royal family" and "from time to time receive invitations to state and national public occasions" at the invitation "of the sovereign or the Government." So there!
And while Prince William's first son, Prince George of Cambridge, was always entitled to the title HRH Prince George of Cambridge (since he was first born), his two younger siblings, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge and Prince Louis of Cambridge, should have technically been a Lady and a Lord. But the Queen did her thang, stepped in, decreeing that “all the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales should have and enjoy the style, title and attribute of royal highness with the titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their Christian names or with such other titles of honor."
Basically, Queen Elizabeth is the gatekeeper to Meghan's princess-ness!
Your Royal Highness, can you do Meghan a serious solid and make a decree proclaiming that all gorgeous, multitalented, American former-actresses marrying into the royal family shall henceforth and forevermore enjoy the title of HRH Princess Meghan? That's how this works, right? Ok, THANKS.
