Prince Harry and Meghan Markle “should be stripped of royal titles” for one reason, blasts Sarah Vine.
Although no longer senior royals after stepping back from duties in 2020, the couple were forcefully stripped of using their HRH title by the Royal Family – but still occasionally go by their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles.
Harry and Meghan’s decision to use these titles has often been questioned – especially as they are now four years into their new life away from the restraints of the Firm.
Taking to her column on the Daily Mail, Sarah Vine claimed that one recent outing for the couple is enough of a reason that they should be stripped of all their titles for once and for all.
Ms Vine claimed that the couple’s recent trip for Jamaica shows that their clear “intentions” for their royal connections.
The expert wrote: “By choosing to break cover in such vehemently anti-monarchist company, the Duke and Duchess appear to be sending a very clear signal to the Palace.
“It appears to me that they intend to use their royal connection to undermine both the individual reputations of members of the Royal Family and that of the institution as a whole. I hope that I am wrong.”
She added that the couple are “helping to fuel anti-royalist sentiment throughout the Commonwealth and elsewhere.”
Also in attendance at the film premiere for Bob Marley: One Love, to which Meghan and Harry were actually invited, was Jamaica’s prime minister Andrew Holness and his wife.
Mr Holness has been a long-standing critic on Jamaica’s relationship with the monarchy and has announced his administration’s intention to hold a referendum on the monarchy by 2025.
Ms Vine added: “The late Queen, who loved the Commonwealth and used her position to foster forgiveness and understanding, would be heartbroken.
“As for King Charles, I can see only one course of action: he should give them what they claim to want and set them free of their royal shackles by stripping them, finally, of all titles.”
Aside from their HRH titles, Harry also gave up his military titles and no longer wears army uniform in public.
Harry and Meghan announced their decision to step down from royal duties in January 2020.
Shortly after stepping back the couple made the decision to move to the US with their son Archie, before welcoming their daughter – their second child – Lilibet in 2021.
When Archie was born in 2019, he was the great-grandchild of a sovereign rather than a grandchild, so was not given the title. However, when King Charles acceded to the throne, it meant that both Archie and Lilibet were entitled to the prince and princess titles.
