Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Are Reportedly "Furious" That Children Archie and Lilibet Won't Get HRH Status

With titles comes a greater level of royal security.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
(Image credit: Getty)

While it looks like relations between the Sussexes and the rest of the Royal Family may be beginning to smooth over in the aftermath of Queen Elizabeth's passing, there still seem to be many issues to work through before there can be full harmony.

If you follow royal stories closely, you'll know that the issue of an appropriate security detail for Prince Harry, his wife Meghan and their two children during their visits to the U.K. was a huge point of contention in the months leading up to the Queen's Jubilee in June.

Now, it looks like the Sussex couple is attached to obtaining royal titles for children Archie and Lilibet, in part because of the extra royal security this would make them entitled to.

While the Sussex children were automatically entitled to "prince" and "princess" titles after the death of their great-grandmother, they are still listed as "Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor" and "Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor" in the official royal line of succession.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and their baby son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter Thandeka Tutu-Gxashe at the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation during their royal tour of South Africa on September 25, 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa.

(Image credit: Samir Hussein/Pool/Getty)

The expectation is that they will be granted those "prince" and "princess" titles unless King Charles III objects; however, they are not to receive the HRH designation, which Harry and Meghan are apparently not pleased about.

"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," a source told The Sun.

"There have been a lot of talks over the past week. They have been insistent that Archie and Lilibet are prince and princess. They have been relentless since the Queen died."

The source added, "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's Daughter Lilibet's first birthday portrait sitting in grass smiling in blue dress

(Image credit: Misan Harriman, Copyright owned by Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex ©2022)
Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.