Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have now broken several promises they made to Queen Elizabeth before she died, it has been claimed.
The couple, who famously quit the UK in March 2020 to move to the US, have been forging a new life for themselves after stepping down as senior members of the Royal Family. Now living in a £12million mansion in Montecito, Southern California, the pair are raising son Archie and daughter Lilibet thousands of miles away from Harry’s father, King Charles, his stepmother Queen Camilla, his estranged brother Prince William, and William’s wife Catherine, Princess of Wales.
And now they’re no longer part of the working royals, Harry, 40, and Meghan, 43, have had to find new ways of making money to keep them in the millionaire lifestyle to which they’ve become accustomed.
One of those money-making ventures was frowned upon by the late Queen – or Granny, as Harry called her – who asked the pair not to use their HRH – ‘His or Her Royal Highness’ – titles as part of the crunch Sandringham Summit talks shortly before Harry and Meghan left the UK.
The couple had been given the dukedom of Sussex on their wedding day, which allowed them to be called the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. While they retained the titles after ‘Megxit Day’ on March 31, 2020, it was agreed with the Queen that they wouldn’t actively use the HRH honorific.
They also agreed to drop the term ‘Royal’ from any branding and had to shelve their Sussexroyal.com website. While no legal agreement was signed, the Queen reluctantly allowed them to quit as senior royals on the understanding they would “continue to uphold the values of Her Majesty”.
On their official website at the time, Harry and Meghan wrote: “As agreed and set out in January, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will retain their ‘HRH’ prefix, thereby formally remaining known as His Royal Highness The Duke of Sussex and Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex.
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will no longer actively use their HRH titles as they will no longer be working members of the family as of Spring 2020.” But a fresh row has been sparked after Meghan seemingly sent a gift basket to an acquaintance with a card signed “HRH The Duchess of Sussex”.
She had sent podcast host Jamie Kern Lima a basket of homemade treats, including strawberry sauce and ice cream, and Jamie recalled it had arrived at her home “about a year ago… to see if that helps lighten my load”. A spokesman for the Sussexes has now denied Meghan uses the title ‘Her Royal Highness’ for commercial purposes. But the card she sent Jamie suggests the couple may still use ‘HRH’ with friends and in personal correspondence.
It’s not the first time the couple have been in hot water over their titles. When they relaunched their official Archewell website as Sussex.com in February 2024, critics accused them of trying to appear more royal and cashing in on their status as duke and duchess. Some described it as a betrayal of the agreement they’d made with the Queen, “if not in letter, certainly in spirit”.
And royal author Giles Brandreth claimed Meghan broke another promise she’d personally made the Queen during their first 20-minute meeting in Windsor Castle. In his book Elizabeth: An intimate Portrait, Giles claimed that Meghan told the Queen she was quitting her acting career to focus on royal duties – which “delighted” her future grandmother-in-law.
“She was particularly delighted by the enthusiasm Meghan showed for the Commonwealth and the commitment she made to the Queen to do ‘whatever you think we should be doing for the Commonwealth’,” Giles wrote.
He continued: “She promised the Queen that when it came to the Commonwealth she wouldn’t let Her Majesty down. The Queen liked Meghan and told lots of people so.”
Meghan was later appointed the vice president of The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, which was launched in 2018, alongside Harry as president. But both of them gave up their roles in February 2021 after it became clear they weren’t going to be returning to the royal fold.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
