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Who is and who isn’t a prince or princess in the British Royal Family and why doesn’t Archie have a title?

Royal Accounts 2019-20 (PA Wire)
Royal Accounts 2019-20 (PA Wire)

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s groundbreaking interview with Oprah Winfrey was broadcast across the UK on Monday evening, as they shared a number of shocking revelations while discussing their lives as working royals.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry opened up to the chat show host and discussed everything from their treatment by the UK tabloids, to Meghan’s mental health and the denial of a ‘prince’ title for their firstborn son, Archie.

In the interview, Meghan discussed the situation surrounding her first pregnancy, revealing that she was told that Archie would not get an official title as ‘prince’ or receive royal protection.

She said: “They didn’t want him to be a prince . . . which would be different from protocol, and that he wasn’t going to receive security," she told Oprah.

Who is officially a prince or princess in the royal family?

The members of the BRF who have the title of prince or princess include:

  • The Queen’s four children: Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Princess Edward.

  • The Queen’s grandchildren: Prince William, Prince Harry, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice

  • The Queen’s great-grandchildren and children of future king Prince William: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis.

The Queen’s great-grandchildren including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son Archie, Princess Eugenie’s son August Brooksbank, Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips children do not possess the title of ‘prince’ or ‘princess’.

Watch: How the line of succession to the throne works

Why does Archie not have a title?

Under current guidelines, great-grandchildren of the monarch are not princes or princesses.

The tradition began with George V when he issued a Letters Patent in 1917.

It read: "...the grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have and enjoy in all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of dukes of these our realms".

Only Prince George - as a great-grandson of the monarch and who has a direct line of succession to the throne - was originally entitled to be a prince.

However, the Queen stepped in ahead of Prince George’s birth to issue a Letters Patent to ensure all the Cambridges’ children would have fitting titles.

Princess Charlotte would have been a Lady and Prince Louis a Lord had the Queen not intervened, and they would have not been HRHs.

Archie, who will turn two in May, was entitled to the ‘courtesy title’ Earl of Dumbarton. However, the couple announced after his birth that they had not given him a courtesy title and he would be known as Archie Mountbatten-Windsor.

If the Queen’s grandchildren can be a prince or princess, why do Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips not have titles?

Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips possess no royal rank and aren’t a HRH because tradition dictates that only the father may pass on his title.

Ms Tindall and Mr Phillips are the children of Princess Anne and her ex-husband Mark Phillips, who is considered a “commoner” and therefore, they have no title to take on.

The only princes and princesses in the family all have fathers currently in the line of succession.

Why do Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie have official titles?

Prince Andrew’s daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie are male-line grandchildren of the sovereign and were granted the title of Princess and the style Royal Highness from birth.

Why do Prince Edward’s children not have official prince and princess titles?

Upon Prince Edward’s wedding to Sophie Rhys-Jones, a statement was issued which announced that The Queen decided, with the consent of both Edward and Sophie, that any children the couple might have together would not be given the style His or Her Royal Highness, but instead be styled as children of an Earl.

That makes Prince Edward’s children The Queen’s first male-line descendants not to have royal titles.

As a result, their daughter is The Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, as opposed to HRH Princess Louise of Wessex, and their son is James, Viscount Severn, who uses his father’s subsidiary title as a courtesy and is not HRH Prince James of Wessex.

Will Archie ever have a royal title?

It’s possible that Archie could receive a royal title later in life, when his grandfather, Prince Charles, becomes king.

In the event of Queen Elizabeth’s death, the title of ‘prince’ will be automatically given to him as the child of a son of the king.

However, Meghan and Harry can also choose not to use the title that would be conferred to Archie after Charles becomes king.

Watch: Who is The Queen?

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