Prince Harry will return to UK without Meghan as controversy over her name continues
Prince Harry prepares for an emotional visit, as the confusion over the multiple names that Meghan Markle has used over the years grows.
Meghan Markle has worn many hats throughout her life, from being an actress in Suits, to a divorcee, and now a royal.
After her union with Prince Harry in 2018, the former Deal or No Deal star became a British monarch and was assigned the name The Duchess of Sussex.
However not everyone was agreed with the title.
Her and Harry both go by Sussex – something she joked about with Mindy Kaling.
In the first season of her show With Love, Meghan she corrected the actress, “It’s so funny, too, that you keep saying Meghan Markle,” she said, adding, “You know I’m Sussex now.”
The royal received some backlash after the comment was aired as Brits maintained that the Duchess has only visited the county once.
The Duchess hasn’t always been Meghan Markle however, and was born Rachel Meghan Markle.
Later, in her first marriage to film producer Trevor Engleson, she took on his last name.
Upon dating the Duke of Sussex, she used her preffered name Meghan and her now husband also uses his Harry instead of his given name Henry.
In her latest series of the notorious show, released August 26, Meghan set the record straight.
“My legal name is Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, but Sussex for us works as our family name and it’s the name we share with our children,” she explained.
“Since I’ve been married, that’s what I’ve been called.”
Her son Archie uses the last name Mountbatten-Windsor, but the Duchess said she is keen to share one singular name with her husband and kids.
HARRY RETURNS HOME WITHOUT MEGHAN
Prince Harry will return to the United Kingdom next week for his annual charity event, the WellChild Awards on 8 September.
The date also falls on the third anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s death, but it is not known if the Duke of Sussex will go to Buckingham Palace to meet with King Charles on this visit.
It will be the first time the Duke of Sussex returns to the UK since he publicly lost his appeal for a UK government-funded security detail.
Prince Harry and King Charles have not seen each other in 18 months, since the Monarch announced his cancer treatment.
The Sun reports that Prince Harry felt “singled out” by the Home Office after the protracted legal battle over maintaining public funded around-the-clock security for him and his family, despite leaving England and his duties as a working royal.
Prince Harry, 40, was last in London for his two-day hearing at the Court of Appeal.
Sir Geoffrey Vos, Lord Justice Bean and Lord Justice Edis ruled against him in his second unsuccessful appeal, and the royal might take his case to the Supreme Court.
The legal row could set the prince back
It also means he faces paying the legal costs for both sides, which is estimated to amount to more than £1.5 million (A$3.1m).
In his Judgement Sir Geoffrey said “The duke was in effect stepping in and out of the cohort of protection provided by Ravec.
“Outside the UK, he was outside the cohort, but when in the UK, his security would be considered as appropriate.”
The duke has hinted he would never be able to forgive what he viewed as a deliberate move to scrap the protection for his family “as some form of punishment” or an attempt to lure him back to the UK.
Prince Harry’s lawyer Shaheed Fatima KC said the royal had been “singled out for different, unjustified and inferior treatment”.
He add that the prince’s “life is at stake.”
In court documents, Prince Harry’s lawyers highlighted “recent security incidents” including al-Qaeda calling for Harry “to be murdered”.
Another example referred to a May 2023 incident after “[Prince Harry] and his wife were involved in a dangerous car pursuit with paparazzi in New York City”.
But the government argued that while Harry “disagrees vehemently” with his security arrangements, his views are “largely irrelevant”.
It comes as Prince Harry parted ways with his African youth charity, Sentebale after a damning report, which accused him of “harming” its reputation, and falling out with Dr Sophie Chandauka, a Zimbabwe-born lawyer, who was selected to be chair of the trustees last year.
Prince Harry established the charity in 2006 in memory of his mum, Princess Diana.
The Charity Commission watchdog investigation chastised “all parties” involved in the bullying allegations row, but ruled that Dr Chandauka could remain alongside the current board.
Prince has been patron of WellChild since 2007 and it is one of the few causes the duke has hung onto after stepping back from his role as a full-working member of the royal family in January 2020.
Harry has not seen King Charles, 76, since February 2024.
His relationship with Prince William and Princess Catherine are equally strained and it is unlikely he will see them.
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Originally published as Prince Harry will return to UK without Meghan as controversy over her name continues
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