Buckingham Palace Explains Why Archie and Lilibet's Titles Haven't Changed Yet
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan's children can now technically be referred to as Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet—should they choose.
Traditionally, the change in title is an automatic right with the ascension of a new monarch. In 1917, King George V established new rules that granted the children and grandchildren of a sovereign to be automatically entitled to the titles His Royal Highness and prince or princess. (At the time of their births, Archie and Lilibet were the great-grandchildren of a sovereign.)
However, some have questioned why Archie and Lilibet's title have not yet been updated on the royal website, though the new titles of Prince William and Kate Middleton as the Prince and Princess of Wales, as well as their children, have already been reflected.
A spokesman for the King told Hello! Magazine that the website would be updated "as and when we get information."
Although the King had expressed his love for Harry and Meghan in his first public speech as sovereign, the sentiment cannot yet be incorporated onto the official site. "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," the spokesman explained. "At the moment, we're focused on the next 10 days and as and when we get information, we will update that website."
It is possible that King Charles could still revoke those titles from his grandchildren.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey last year, Meghan said that the royal family discussed changing the protocol in order to keep Archie from acquiring the royal title. She also said that, while she was pregnant with Archie, the family decided to not grant him the HRH and prince title, connecting their decision to concerns over "how dark" the baby's skin would be.
"In those months, when I was pregnant, all around this same time, we had in tandem the conversation of he won't be given security, he won't be given a title ... and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin will be when he's born," Meghan told Winfrey at the time. "That was relayed to me from Harry, that was from conversations that family had with him. It was really hard to see those as compartmentalized conversations."
In order to remove Archie and Lilibet's new titles, the king would have to issue a Letters Patent amending their rights, per The Guardian.
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