Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor and daughter Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor are now able to use the titles “Prince” and “Princess,” following Queen Elizabeth II’s death on Thursday, September 9. The two kids are now allowed to use the titles, because they are now the grandchildren of a sovereign (King Charles III), whereas they were great-grandchildren to Queen Elizabeth, according to The Guardian.
Despite Archie, 3, and Lili, 1, now being able to use the titles, King Charles may make changes to the protocols that would not allow Harry and Meghan’s kids to use the titles “prince” and “princess.” In order to stop his grandchildren from receiving the new titles, Charles would need to issue a Letters Patent.
During Harry and Meghan’s tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, the couple said that they’d learned that Charles had planned to have a smaller monarchy, so it was likely that he would change protocols to not allow Archie and Lili to use the HRH titles and be called “prince” and “princess.” Queen Elizabeth’s father King George V had set up the current protocols, which gives all sovereign children and grandchildren the right to use the titles back in 1917. While King Charles may make changes in the future, he has not yet made the adjustments.
When Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen’s health was in decline, Harry, as well as his brother Prince William, flew to Scotland to see their grandmother at Balmoral. Following her death, Harry and Meghan’s Archewell website was updated with a black background that simply had a memorial to the Queen. “In Loving Memory of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” the website said, as well as having the years of her birth and death listed.
Following his mother’s death, Charles paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth in his first statement as King. “We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world,” he wrote.