Friday, 29 Nov 2024

Archie Harrison could become Duke even if Queen strips Harry and Meghan Markle’s titles

Kate Middleton ‘didn’t meet Archie for a week’ reveals insider

Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor is Queen Elizabeth II, 94, and Prince Philip’s great-grandchild and is 7th in line to the throne. Following his birth on May 6, 2019, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry made the decision to register him as a private citizen and to not give him a royal title. Meghan and Harry have since stepped back from their royal roles entirely and have now settled in Santa Barbara, California where they are expected to raise their son.

The parents are fiercely protective of Archie’s privacy and other than a Christmas card that featured an illustration of Meghan and Harry with their son, no new footage of the young royal has been shared since his first birthday last May.

Since stepping down as senior royals Meghan and Harry have gained financial independence from the Firm and signed lucrative deals with Spotify and Netflix.

The couple’s Hollywood lifestyle has sparked criticism from traditionalists who have called for their royal titles to be removed.

Whether or not the Queen chooses to strip Meghan and Harry of their HRH styles and Duke and Duchess title remains to be seen.

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Their royal status will be reviewed in March when the Queen re-examines the deal she made with the couple last year.

Even if the Queen did choose to take away Harry’s dukedom, a constitutional expert has claimed it would not prevent Archie from inheriting the title himself one day.

Discussing the future of Meghan and Harry’s royal titles, constitutional expert Iain MacMarthanne told Express.co.uk: “As things presently stand there is no real precedent to follow should there be a desire, or wish, to remove them.

“What should be kept in mind is that the style and title HRH and prince is quite separate to the peerage of Sussex.”

He added: “The peerage can be disclaimed by the duke under legislation passed in 1963, but the peerage remains live and can be inherited by the next male heir upon the death of the holder, albeit disclaimed – in this instance Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, otherwise the earl of Dumbarton.”

Archie will automatically inherit Prince Harry’s dukedom upon his father’s death, however, he is likely to have taken another royal title before then.

Archie is the grandson of heir apparent Prince Charles, 73, and will become a Prince when Charles ascends the throne.

Archie will be able to decide whether or not to use his HRH style when he turns 18, regardless of Meghan and Harry’s royal status.

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The young royal could also face a new restriction when he becomes sixth in line to the throne.

The 2013 Succession of the Crown Act rules that royals who are sixth in line to the throne and above must ask the presiding monarch for permission to marry and is likely to apply to Archie one day.

This means if and when Archie does one day decide to marry he is likely to have to ask the presiding sovereign for their permission.

Archie has not been back to the UK since November 2019 and it is unclear when he may next reconnect with his royal relatives.

Meghan and Harry were due to travel back to Britain over the summer when they were expected to take Archie to see the Queen.

The couple are understood to have accepted an invitation to spend time with the Queen and Philip at Balmoral but the trip was called off amid the pandemic.

The Sussexes have held onto their Windsor home Frogmore Cottage and could return to Britain next spring for a stint.

Harry is due in the Hague in March to oversee the Invictus Games and is scheduled to unveil a new statue of his late mother Princess Diana with Prince William at Kensington Palace in July.

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