Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has revealed her rift with the British Royal Family stems in part from her frustration that they would not bend royal rules to make her son a prince against normal convention, claiming inaccurately that the title was his “birthright”.
Conventions laid down over a century ago by the Queen’s grandfather, George V, stipulate that as a great-grandchild of the monarch and child of the second son of the heir to the throne, Archie has a right to father Prince Harry’s subsidiary title, which would make him Lord Archie, Earl of Dumbarton.
In a tell-all interview with American talk show host Oprah Winfrey, however, former Suits starlet Meghan Markle strongly indicated that she did not think this prestigious title — which she and Prince Harry have declined to use — was good enough for her son.
“How did they explain to you that your son, the great-grandson of the Queen, wasn’t going to be a prince? You certainly must have had some conversations with Harry about it, and have your own suspicions as to why they didn’t want to make Archie a prince. Why do you think that is?” asked Winfrey — as if the question could not be answered clearly and easily with reference to the long-established rules mentioned above.
“They were saying they didn’t want him to be a prince or princess, which would be different from protocol,” Meghan said, apparently in error.
“This went on for the last few months of our pregnancy where I was going, hold on for a second,” she continued, alleging that this happened “in tandem [with] concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.”
Winfrey was quick to play up the racial element of the manufactured controversy, asking: “Do you think it’s because of his race? I know that’s a loaded question.”
Meghan did not make such an accusation outright, but leaned into the theme, saying she was upset by the “idea of the first member of colour in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be” and insisting “It’s not their right to take it away.”
In reality, Archie — who is the Queen’s great-grandchild — is not in a unique position. The children of the Queen’s daughter Princess Anne and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips — a commoner who unlike Meghan declined a title on marrying into royalty — do not have titles, and nor does the son of the Queen’s granddaughter Princess Eugenie.
The son and daughter of the Queen’s youngest child, Prince Edward, are not styled as Prince and Princess, but as Lord and Lady — similar to the title the more distantly-related Archie could use, if Meghan and Harry wished.
Meghan tried to link the issue of Archie’s title to the decision that he would not be entitled to taxpayer-funded security — something the royals have tried to curb over the years for minor royals, given the years of austerity many ordinary people have endured — but the connection is dubious.
The aforementioned Princess Eugenie and sister Princess Beatrice, for example, do not receive taxpayer-funded security, regardless of their titles.
Archie is the seventh in line to the throne, behind grandfather Prince Charles, uncle Prince William, his three cousins, and Prince Harry, and will fall further down the line of succession behind any more children his uncle or his cousins have — making it extremely unlikely he will ever wear the crown.
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