Meghan Markle raised eyebrows by still using the “Her Royal Highness” title, five years after being asked not to when she stepped down as a senior working member of the British royal family and a royal expert tells In Touch exclusively why they feel it is “crass.”
“I don’t think we’ll see any formal action from the King, William, or the Palace,” royal commentator Jennie Bond says about reports that Prince William wants to strip Meghan, 43, and her husband, Prince Harry, of their HRH titles once he becomes monarch, after his father, King Charles III, dies. “It’s really not worth the row and ill-feeling it would cause. But I do think it’s rather crass and pompous of Meghan,” Jennie explains about the With Love, Meghan star’s use of HRH.
The issue once again came to light when the Duchess of Sussex’s pal, Jamie Kern Lima, shared a gift Meghan had sent her during an episode of her podcast. It came with “homemade strawberry sauce,” while the former Suits star signed the card, “With the Compliments of HRH The Duchess of Sussex.”
The card showed Meghan’s royal cypher with an embossed “M” underneath a crown, which is the same one she used in royal life prior to her and Harry, 40, stepping away from his family in 2020, following their royal wedding in May 2018.
“I don’t want to be part of the pile on … but you really shouldn’t try to bake your cake and eat it! She turned her back on royal life … she now says she and Harry were ‘in the trenches’ within six months of meeting … so it really does beg the question: why does she want to cling on to any vestige of a life she so clearly despised?” Jennie wonders. “I thought America was all about equality … so why try to be superior?”
Jennie says Meghan is “walking a very thin line here … was the gift of her ‘jam’ to a make-up entrepreneur really just a ‘private’ gift or a commercial placement? I would suggest the jury is out as to whether her quite superfluous use of HRH was for commercial kudos. But I think the Palace will simply rise above it.”
Buckingham Palace announced in January 2020 that as part of the Sandringham agreement that saw Harry and Meghan step back from royal duties, the couple would retain their HRH prefix privately but would “no longer actively use their HRH titles as they will no longer be working members of the family as of Spring 2020.”
Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Prince William, Princess Kate, King Charles III.
The late Queen Elizabeth II allowed a 12-month review period in case the couple changed their minds about leaving the royal fold. When the duo made it clear they were not returning, Harry was stripped of his honorary royal military titles in 2021, which were subsequently given to active working senior members of the royal family.
The Daily Beast reported that Charles, 76, would not “want to open a new front in the civil war” between the family and the couple, according to a friend of the monarch.
William, 42, will continue to “respect his father’s rank” and follow his lead, according to pals, who added that when the Prince of Wales ascends to the throne, Harry and Meghan could be “more harshly dealt with.”
“William has been given a great deal of influence on all areas of royal policy, but that cuts both ways, and he respects his father’s rank. Charles has a softly-softly attitude to Harry and Meghan, and so that’s the policy for now, but the gloves will be off when he inherits the throne. If they started using the HRH titles on a regular basis, he would take them away for good,” the friend explained.
“It’s no secret William wants Harry more harshly dealt with. He thinks he has betrayed the family from top to bottom, which is the ultimate Windsor crime. It wouldn’t take much to provoke him to flex his muscles when he is king,” the insider claimed.
