Thought for the Day
15th March 2021
Archie’s Title
Status in the royal family is governed by Letters Patent issued by King George V in 1917. Prior to that time, it was governed by Letters Patent issued by Queen Victoria, by which children of the monarch and children of the monarch’s sons were Royal Highness and Prince of the United Kingdom, as was the eldest son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales; descendants of the monarch beyond that relationship were Highness and Prince.
George V kept things the same for Royal Highnesses but altered the situation for outlying descendants in the male like and their children, who were now treated as the children of dukes (“Lord X”/”Lady X”).
Under that system the Duke of Cambridge’s children were “Lord Louis of Cambridge” and “Lady Charlotte of Cambridge”, with the eldest some George being Prince George of Cambridge and Royal Highness. The Queen altered that by giving all of the Cambridge children the titles of Prince/ss and Royal Highness. No such exception was made for the Sussexes.
Under the existing system therefore, Archie is Lord Archie of Sussex and holds by courtesy his father’s secondary title of Earl of Dumbarton. Any assertion to the contrary is a malignant lie. The Sussexes can choose not to use any of their titles, as Prince Edward and his wife did, and most everybody will respect that, but that doesn’t change the law. (The ‘Duchess of Cornwall’ is using the same trick; by law she is Princess of Wales, and if she wanted to claim that title, nobody could say her nay, although it would be a PR nightmare.)
When Charles becomes King (I predict that he will choose to be known as George VII because Charles is a badly tainted brand — what were Philip and Elizabeth thinking?), then Archie (and his incipient sister) will become (as a child of a monarch’s son) His Royal Highness Prince Archie of Sussex, and the ‘courtesy title’ will be dropped. The Sussexes can choose to use the titles or not, but it doesn’t depend on ‘skin color’ in any respect.
Meghan Markle could have been a real blessing to the royal family, but has chosen to be a chancre instead. Her performance, and Diana’s, demonstrate the wisdom of the royal family not straying too far from the reservation in picking spouses.