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Prince Harry's status as heir to throne 'irremovable' until parliament decides otherwise, says legal expert

What will happen to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after their decision to step down from their royal duties?
UPDATED JAN 10, 2020
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (Getty Images)
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (Getty Images)

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's announcement that they will be stepping away from their royal duties has left many wondering where the couple will go from here.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had taken to Instagram on January 8 to state that they would be making a "transition" this year and carving out a "progressive new role" within the monarchy.

They also said that they "intend to step back as 'senior' members of the royal family and work to become financially independent," and that they will be splitting their time between North America and the United Kingdom in the future.

However, because of their unique status as members of the royal family — they will still retain their titles as Duke and Duchess of Sussex until and unless the Queen decides otherwise — there have been questions raised about how their future will pan out.

CS Global Partners, an international legal advisory that specializes in citizenship and residency solutions, explained to MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) how the decision would impact the royals, including clearing doubts of Meghan's British citizenship.

Kensington Palace had previously confirmed that Meghan had intended on becoming a British citizen, which meant she would have been subject to the same immigration laws as any other foreign national.

Meghan, because of her marriage to Harry, would have applied for citizenship via naturalization as a spouse, a process that takes at least three years and would have prevented her from staying abroad for more than three months a year.

"However, she may have been exempt from residence restrictions since her partner, Harry, 'works abroad either for the UK government or an organization closely linked to the government'," CS Global Partners said.

"If Meghan had moved to the UK permanently before January 2017, the best-case scenario indicates that Meghan could have already obtained British citizenship."

Because that is still unclear, Meghan, who in legal and constitutional terms is a US citizen by birth, will continue to remain solely a US citizen until it is confirmed that she has the full status of a British citizen.

As for Harry, his status as sixth in line as heir to the throne is still "irremovable" except if the parliament voted to do so, the legal advisory said.

Their son, Archie, could very well already have a dual UK-US citizenship.

"His UK citizenship would have been granted to him automatically because he was born in the UK after 2006 and his father is a UK citizen," CS Global Partners explained.

"From an American perspective, Archie was born to Harry (alien) and Meghan (US Citizen raised in the US) and therefore is a legal US citizen by virtue of Section 301(g) of the US Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)."

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