Meghan Markle's full name is: Her Royal Highness Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, Countess of Dumbarton and Baroness Kilkeel. Meghan is still a Duchess, despite stepping down from royal duties. This is because the Dukedom was gifted to the couple by The Queen when they married in 2018.
It turns out, there are two ways to become a British princess: to be born the daughter of a prince, or to marry one. On top of that, only those born into the royal family can use the title princess (or prince, for that matter) before their name.
To become a bonafide “princess,” royal protocol dictates that one must either be born the daughter of the sovereign or a prince—or become a prince's wife, and therefore take his title upon marriage. So, marrying Prince Harry won't technically make Meghan a true princess.
Both of them kept their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles since leaving the UK, which was dubbed "Megxit". They were given these titles by the Queen when they got married but to take them away, an Act of Parliament would be required.
Royal expert Christopher Andersen, author of The King: The Life of Charles III, tells Marie Claire exclusively that nothing will change in this regard: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will retain their titles, as will Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet,” he says.
HELLO! investigates… The monarch has no powers to remove titles and this would require an act of parliament. The last time this happened was in 1917 when King George V passed the Titles Deprivation Act to remove the British peerage titles of several German and Austrian royals during the First World War.
Can Harry and Meghan legally lose their Duke and Duchess titles? Legally, the monarch has no powers to remove a family member's royal titles - it would require an act of parliament to actually happen.
Do Prince Harry and Meghan Still Have Royal Titles? Yes. Prince Harry and Meghan are still the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, titles conferred by Queen Elizabeth on their 2018 wedding day.
Harry and Meghan made the choice to give up their His / Her Royal Highness (HRH) titles, meaning that they won't be referred to by their "Royal" names. This means that yes, Harry no longer wishes to be referred to as 'Prince'. Interestingly, however, the Duke of Sussex is still fifth in line for the throne.
Though Harry's prince title is a birthright and cannot be taken away, the Duke of Sussex title was a gift from Her late Majesty upon his marriage to Meghan in 2018.
Archie and Lilibet were not prince and princess at birth, because they were not grandchildren of the monarch, but they gained the right to these titles when King Charles acceded to the throne.
On their wedding days, members of the royal family are typically given a new royal title. For example, Prince William became the Duke of Cambridge and his bride, Kate Middleton, became the Duchess of Cambridge. When Queen Elizabeth II died in September, Middleton was given a new title, Catherine, Princess of Wales.
Title rules set out by King George V in 1917 gave the children and grandchildren of a sovereign the automatic right to the HRH, prince and princess titles. When Archie was born, he was the great-grandchild of a sovereign rather than a grandchild, so was not given the title.
Why is Kate not a princess? Even though Diana was known as 'Princess Diana', Kate is not a princess just because she married Prince William. To become a Princess, one has to be born into the Royal Family such as Prince William and Kate's daughter, Princess Charlotte, or the Queen's daughter, Princess Anne.
While both duchesses and princesses are royalty, and princesses technically outrank duchesses, the relationship between the two titles is not always clearly defined. Princesses are usually the daughters or granddaughters of a king or queen.
Princess of Wales
Kate inherited the title from her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, who was married to Prince Charles—now King Charles III—from 1981 to 1996. While Kate is colloquially referred to as Princess Catherine or Princess Kate, her correct royal name is actually Catherine, Princess of Wales.
Prince Harry and Meghan no longer receive money from the Royal Family and have a series of commercial arrangements with a number of companies.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have an estimated net worth of $60 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. The couple has signed a series of lucrative deals including documentaries, books, podcasts and more, worth an estimated total of $135 million, according to Forbes.
Under British royal protocol, both Lilibet and Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, the couple's 3-year-old son, are entitled to the titles of princess and prince as grandchildren of the sitting U.K. monarch.
The answer, it seems, can be summed up in three words: planning, parenting and regrouping. Parenting is part of the reason the Duchess decided not to come to the Coronation, friends have said, as it falls on the same day as Prince Archie's fourth birthday.
According to BBC, 95 percent of Harry's income before he left the royal family came from his father, King Charles III, who at the time controlled the Duchy of Cornwall, a portfolio of property and financial investments that brought in £21.6 million (or $29.8 million) in 2019.
First created in 1801, the title lapsed in 1843 but was revived when Queen Elizabeth II bestowed it on her grandson Prince Harry on 19 May 2018 just before his marriage to Meghan Markle, who then became the Duchess of Sussex.
When Harry and Meghan stepped down from their royal duties in early 2020, they were not stripped of their duke and duchess titles, and the royal family's website still refers to the couple as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, KCVO (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales. He is fifth in the line of succession to the British throne.
The Duchess of Sussex, born Rachel Meghan Markle, married Prince Harry at St George's Chapel, Windsor in May 2018. The Duke and Duchess have two children, Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex. As announced in January 2020, The Duke and Duchess have stepped back as senior members of The Royal Family.