Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ‘furious’ Archie and Lilibet will not get HRH status

Tense discussions have taken place that have left Prince Harry and Meghan Markle “furious” over a major palace decision.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s children Archie and Lilibet will officially be declared a Prince and Princess – but will not be known as His and Her Royal Highnesses.

The UK’s Sun reports “tense discussions” have been taking place while the California-based couple is in London following the Queen’s death.

King Charles is understood to have agreed to issue letters anointing Archie, three, a Prince and one-year-old sister Lilibet a Princess.

But The Sun reports Prince Harry and Markle have been “left furious” their children will not be able to use the titles His and Her Royal Highness.

Prince William, Prince of Wales, Kate, Princess of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leave after escorting the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II to Westminster Hall. Picture: Getty Images.

“There have been a lot of talks over the past week,” a source was quoted as saying.

“They have been insistent that Archie and Lilibet are prince and princess.

“They have been relentless since the Queen died,” the source said.

“But they have been left furious that Archie and Lilibet cannot take the title HRH. That is the agreement — they can be prince and princess but not HRH because they are not working royals.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with Archie and Lilibet in their 2021 Christmas Card. Picture: Alexi Lubomirski/Handout/The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

The couple agreed to drop their use of the titles when they stepped down from royal duties and moved to the US.

Since then they have raised concerns publicly about not being afforded adequate security that members of the Royal family are entitled to.

“Harry and Meghan were worried about the security issue and being prince and princess brings them the right to have certain levels of royal security,” the source said.

The couple were in the UK for charity events when the Queen passed.

It is understood their children remain in California, and it has not been revealed yet if they will travel to London for their great-grandmother’s funeral on Monday.

By tradition, the children and grandchildren (in the male line) of the British sovereign are automatically deemed princes and princesses and able to use the HRH honorific.

But in more recent decades, the situation has become more complex.

Prince Andrew’s daughters Beatrice and Eugenie are princesses, of course, but Prince Edward’s children James and Louise have the titles Viscount and Lady, respectively, and Princess Anne refused royal titles for her three children altogether.

It was reportedly the Queen’s decision for Prince Edward’s children to have the lesser titles, although Prince Charles’s desire so slim down the ranks of senior royals was thought to be instrumental in her thinking.

In her infamous 2021 tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Duchess of Sussex spoke of her disappointment during her pregnancy when the palace informed her that her unborn child would not be known as a prince or a princess.

Conversations about what her unborn child’s title would be were happening at the same time as discussions about the level of protection they would have – and the colour of their skin, the Duchess told Winfrey.

The Duchess said the news her unborn child would not receive the level of security afforded a prince or princess was “really hard”.

She also pointed out that if her then unborn child was not officially titled a prince or princess, it would be a redrawing of convention for “the first member of colour in this family“.

The Duchess suggested her desire for Archie to be known as a prince was largely because it triggered an automatic right to extra security, but the symbolism was also important.

“Growing up as a woman of colour, as a little girl of colour, I know how important representation is. I know how you want to see someone who looks like you in certain positions,” she told Winfrey.