For everything Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and the Royal Wedding in one convenient place, visit our Royal Wedding hub.
Meghan Markle, right?
Perhaps not for much longer.
With the royal wedding upon us on May 19, things are about to change. Namely – if you’ll allow the pun – some names.
Come Saturday, Meghan Markle will likely enter the throes of the British royal family as Her Royal Highness Princess Henry of Wales.
The clunky name emphasises the fact that Markle won’t be a princess in her own right, but through marriage. Women who are royal by blood, like Princess Charlotte or Princess Eugenie, get to use their own name.
Oh, and if Henry appears a little rogue, it’s because Harry’s birth name is not at all Harry. It’s Henry.
But while that may be a name she's given, it's just as likely we will never use it because, well, it's odd. In fact, it would appear the only one who still actually uses that title is 73-year-old Princess Michael of Kent who married Prince Michael back in 1978.
So, if she doesn't use the funky name of her husband, what will she use?
It's believed if Harry is made the Duke of Sussex after he is married - and he is predicted to - then Meghan will be known as Her Royal Highness Duchess of Sussex.
So that's that.
Top Comments
I wonder if her formal / official Duchess title will be Rachel, Duchess of Sussex, the way formally Kate is known as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge?
Princess Michael of Kent is the only woman to hold the title. All the other married British Princes are Princes, Dukes or Earls of territories and so use that title. The other most recent woman who has used it was the Duchess of Gloucester prior to her husband inheriting the Dukedom. If her brother-in-law had survived she would still be Princess Richard of Gloucester.
We used to have a "princess"as a neighbor. She was an American who married an exiled Georgian prince, and I always wondered why she was called Princess Simon being that her name was Anne. I guess it was probably similar to Ms. Markle's situation.