Why Prince Harry's title was just changed on the palace website
Prince Harry has an updated title on the royal family's official website.
The 38-year-old is now listed as "The Duke of Sussex" on his biography page and his wife, the former Meghan Markle, is listed as "The Duchess."
The update comes just days after the news outlet Express reported that the royal family's website still referred to Harry as "His Royal Highness" (HRH) in three locations. Per a screenshot from June 2023 stored on the Wayback Machine, Harry's HRH title came up when describing his charitable work in Africa and sporting events.
TODAY.com has reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
Harry and Meghan's titles have been the subject of debate since they announced their decision to step back as senior members of the royal family in 2020.
When they got married in 2018, Harry received the title of His Royal Highness The Duke of Sussex and Meghan became Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex.
Following their 2020 announcement, Buckingham Palace issued a statement saying that Harry and Meghan would no longer use the HRH prefix since they were “no longer working members of the Royal Family."
After relocating to the U.S., they continued to go by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
In a January 2023 interview with "60 Minutes," Harry briefly addressed the question of why he and Meghan continued to use their Sussex title.
“Why not renounce your titles as duke and duchess?” host Anderson Cooper asked.
“And what difference would that make?” Harry said in response.
Despite his title change, Harry is still eligible to inherit the throne one day and is currently fifth in line, per the palace website. His palace biography does note that he has stepped away from royal duties, however.
“As announced in January 2020, The Duke and Duchess have stepped back as senior members of The Royal Family. They are balancing their time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour their duty to The King, the Commonwealth, and their patronages,” it reads.
To the public, Harry might be known as a prince, but at home he has nicknames just like the rest of us. In their 2022 Netflix docuseries “Harry & Meghan,“ the Sussexes playfully revealed that Meghan calls Harry "Haz" and "H," while Harry calls Meghan "M."
The couple's children, Archie, 4, and Lilibet, 2, also have their own titles. Following the death of the queen in September 2022, they became eligible to use the titles of "prince" and "princess."
On March 9, 2023, the royal family's official website was updated with the following new titles: Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
