Prince Charles: Harry and Meghan's son Archie shouldn't be a prince

Even weeks after Harry and Meghan’s interviews with Oprah Winfrey, the British royal family does not come to rest.

London – New trouble for Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle. According to a report in the Mail on Sunday, Prince Charles, son of Queen Elizabeth II and thus number one in line to the throne, wants to slim down the somewhat outdated monarchical structure of the Empire. Archie, the firstborn of the couple, who should actually bear the official title of “Prince” after the Queen’s death, would be more suffering.

Archie would actually be entitled to this title if his grandfather Charles became King of Great Britain. The rule of who is a prince or princess – and thus may also be called Royal Highness (HRH) – goes back to a decree by King George V from November 1917. In it, George V stated that the monarch’s great-grandchildren are not princes or princesses, with one exception: the eldest son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales may call himself that. In the current situation, this means that Prince George, the eldest son of Prince William and Duchess Kate, automatically became prince at birth, but not Archie, although both are great-grandchildren of the Queen.

+

Harry and Meghan: Prince Charles wants to implement savings plans

The Mail on Sunday now reports that Charles is determined to limit the number of titles at Royals. This is in response to growing resentment among the British people who are no longer willing to bear the cost of having “an ever growing monarchy” in the UK. In Great Britain, government grants are only available to members of the royal family who also have a title. The amount that taxpayers in Great Britain have to raise for this amounted to 82.4 million British pounds in 2019 (the equivalent of around 93 million euros). Which is actually not a huge amount, because every person living in Great Britain has only paid the equivalent of 1.38 euros for the royals per year.

According to information from the Mail on Sunday, Prince Charles is said to have already informed Harry and Meghan of his plans. According to an unspecified source from the couple’s environment, he wants to create the legal conditions for Archie not to use the title in the future that he would normally have legally inherited.

Harry and Meghan: Message before the interview with Oprah Winfrey

Prince Charles’s decision, which allegedly preceded months of heated discussions behind the scenes, is said to have further clouded relations between Harry and his relatives. Harry and Meghan are said to have been completely surprised by the decision that they did not expect such a step on the part of Charles. The paper also speculates that the news came to them shortly before the Oprah Winfrey interview.

This would explain why Harry had shown himself so disappointed in his father during the conversation. Prince Harry had told Winfrey that he felt “really let down” by Chrales. It is possible that he hadn’t meant himself personally, but his son Archie. Who, if Charles’s plans were implemented, would never be a prince. But no one can take the melodious name Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. (Stefan Krieger)

Headline list image: © Toby Melville / dpa