Royal Expert Claims This Is The Only Way Archie And Lilibet Will Receive Titles
With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, a few members of the royal family received new titles, most notably King Charles III, who ascended to the throne after his mother's death. In addition, his wife, Camilla, became queen consort, and Charles named his son William, and his wife, Catherine, the new Prince and Princess of Wales, per Insider. As a result, their three children will now be referred to as Prince George of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales, and Prince Louis of Wales.
But while the changes to William and Kate's family's titles have already been made clear on the royal website, things appear to be more complicated when it comes to the children of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex. With their grandfather now the head of the monarchy, Archie and Lilibet can now officially become prince and princess. Yet there haven't been any changes made to their status on the royal site.
Charles's spokesman pointed out that the new king did express his love for Harry and Meghan in his first speech after the queen's death. "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," he told Hello!
But some believe there is more to the king's reluctance to make a formal announcement about his two youngest grandchildren's titles.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle need to earn the king's trust
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, need to prove they can be trusted before their children, son Archie and daughter Lilibet, will receive the titles prince and princess, according to Katie Nicholl, author of "The New Royals – Queen Elizabeth's Legacy and the Future of the Crown." After the couple stepped down from their royal duties in 2020, they sat down for a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey. And in recent months, Meghan has spoken out about her difficulties with the monarchy via her new podcast, "Archtypes."
"They remain 'Miss' and 'Master' currently [on the royal website]," Nicholl told True Royalty TV's The Royal Beat (via the Daily Mail) regarding Archie and Lilibet. "And I'm told that that is a very clear signal from the king. He's willing to give those titles, but it comes with a caveat, and that caveat is trust. They have to know that they can trust the family."
One major source of friction is Harry's upcoming memoir. In fact, royal biographer Tina Brown believes that if Harry and Meghan want to have any role in the royal family moving forward, they need to abandon all of their tell-all projects. "Unless he does give up his book and these tell-all documentaries and stops doing the interviews, then there can be no trust," she told Newsweek.