Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's children still listed as ‘Master’ and ‘Miss’ despite being entitled to royal titles
LONDON, ENGLAND: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's children Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1, are still identified as ‘Master’ and ‘Miss’ on the royal website even after being entitled to ‘Royal Highness’ titles.
The entitlement comes from rules established by the late Queen Elizabeth II’s grandfather King George V in 1917. As per the rule, the children and grandchildren of the reigning royal are granted titles though great-grandchildren are excluded. However, an exception was made for Prince George in 2013, allowing Prince William and Kate Middleton’s children to be styled as prince or princess, as per NY Post. And following the Queen's death on Thursday afternoon, September 8, at the age of 96 at her Balmoral residency, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's children also became eligible to royal titles as per rules set out by King George V. Archie and Lilibet, King Charles III's grandchildren, are now sixth and seventh in line to the throne, however, have not been listed as Prince and Princess on the royal website.
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's daughter Lilibet will NOT be a princess, here's why
On September 10, 2022, the royal family’s website published an updated list of the order of succession. The list had the Prince Harry and Meghan's two children listed as Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor and Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor without any titles. Commenting on it, the King’s spokesperson said, "While the website was updated for the Waleses, clearly updating love on a website doesn’t quite work so we’ve not quite done that but clearly he does love them. We will be working through updating the website as and when we get information," as reported by Mirror. When asked if Archie and Lilibet are going to get the titles, the spokesperson said, "At the moment, we’re focused on the next 10 days and as and when we get information, we will update that website."
Controversy over Archie's title
In 2021, Meghan revealed in an with interview with Oprah Winfrey that her son was denied the title of prince even before she and Harry stepped away from royal life in 2020. She expressed her sadness over "the idea of the first member of colour in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be." Meghan said, "It’s not their right to take away. In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, so we [had] the conversation of he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title. And, also, concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.”