Many royal observers are left confused by one of King Charles III‘s decisions since the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
The newly-proclaimed King of England gave his first speech to the nation, where he paid tribute to his late mother for her dedication and devotion to the role of Queen.
He promised to follow in her footsteps and never abdicate the Throne. In his speech, he also announced that the heir to the Throne, Prince William, and his wife had inherited new titles.
He said: “As my heir, William now assumes the Scottish titles which have meant so much to me. He succeeds me as Duke of Cornwall and takes on the responsibilities for the Duchy of Cornwall, which I have undertaken for more than five decades.”
He added: “Today, I am proud to create him Prince of Wales, Tywysog Cymru, the country whose title I have been so greatly privileged to bear during so much of my life and duty. With Catherine beside him, our new Prince and Princess of Wales will, I know, continue to inspire and lead our national conversations, helping to bring the marginal to the center ground where vital help can be given.”
Moments later, Prince William and his spouse updated their official social media pages with the titles they had just inherited from King Charles.
Less than 24 hours later, King Charles had the Royal Family’s website updated with the new line of succession.
The site considered the new titles given to Kate Middleton, Prince William, and their three children. The young Princes and Princess of Cambridge are now Princes and Princess of Wales.
Therefore, their new names are now Prince George of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales, and Prince Louis of Wales.
However, there were no changes for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s two children. The website reads Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. And his sister is listed as Miss Lilibet Diana.
The rules put in place by King George V in 1917 mean that Prince Harry’s son should be called Prince Archie and his daughter should be Princess Lilibet.
The rule clearly states that “the children of a son of a sovereign – also now have an HRH style if they choose to use it.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not commented on the matter, but their close friend and royal biographer, Omid Scobie, took to Twitter to say: “As the son of the King, Harry’s children have the right to become HRH Prince Archie and HRH Princess Lilibet. Right now, however, the two are listed with their original stylings.”
Aware of the viral story, he dealt a blow to Prince Harry and Markle. King Charles’s spokesman claimed that he loves Prince Harry and Markle and that his love cannot be measured on the website.
The rep shared this confusing explanation: “While the website was updated for the Waleses, clearly updating love on a website doesn’t quite work, so we’re not quite done that, but clearly, he does love them. We will be working through updating the website as and when we get information.”
During her interview with Oprah Winfrey, Markle said this about Archie and the title debacle: “They were saying they didn’t want him to be a prince or a princess – not knowing what the gender would be – which would be different from protocol…the idea of our son not being safe, and also the idea of the first member of color in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be.”
Some observers are wondering if this is a negotiation.
