Harry and Meghan set for title challenge in weeks as furious Tory MP brings bill forward

When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped down as senior working royals in 2020 they were stripped of their HRH status but allowed to keep their titles of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. This arrangement, thrashed out during the Megxit negotiations between the Queen, Charles, Willliam and Harry, has long attracted criticism as the couple are accused of cashing in on their royal status. Tory MP Bob Seely has been particularly vocal of this, and is due to introduce a bill to pave the way for the Sussexes to lose their title.

Mr Seely has accused Harry of attacking important British institutions “as well as trashing his family and monetising his misery for public consumption” and argues he should not be allowed to keep his Sussex title.

Speaking to Fox News, British broadcaster and royal commentator Jonathan Sacerdoti said that the 56-year-old MP is keen to get the bill moving fast.

Mr Sacerdoti said: “Seely plans to introduce a private member’s bill that would allow a vote to amend the 1917 Titles Deprivation Act, which was used to strip the German royal family of their UK titles during the First World War.

“That level of treachery was seen as cause to remove royal titles back then, so it’s striking that a serving MP now feels so strongly about the actions of Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, that he wants to use the same law to strip them of their titles.”

Mr Sacerdoti added that Mr Seely said that the bill needs to be drafted and should be expected sometime in mid-February.

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The royal commentator added that there will then be a process for the bill to be heard in Parliament, if it is ready in the coming weeks.

Prince Harry and Meghan’s explosive Netflix docu-series was released in December, and Mr Sacerdoti claimed that Mr Seely’s originally planned the action “after the Netflix series was released”.

The royal correspondent, who spoke to the MP after the release of Harry’s book, added that Spare, which is the title of the book, “didn’t help matters at all”.

Mr Sacerdori added: “The book was seen by many as betraying the royal family and the monarchy and also has been quite widely mocked in some respects.

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Following the couple’s royal exit in 2020, it was agreed that Harry and Meghan would no longer represent the Queen. In terms of their royal HRH titles, it was, at the time, agreed that they would retain the titles but will not use them, and will be called Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

In their royal statement, which was released on January 8, 2020, the couple declared their wish to “work to become financially independent”.