As speculation grows over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal titles, one royal expert has revealed the one reason why the future King would never take that stepGeorgia Burns Trainee Trends, Showbiz and Lifestyle Writer and Emma Mackenzie
09:21, 30 Dec 2025
Prince William and Prince Harry have been at war for several years(Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
Since Andrew and Sarah Ferguson lost their royal titles, speculation has grown that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could eventually face a similar outcome. Although, Harry, 41, has a strained relationship with the Royal Family and has spent the past fire years living in California with his wife, Meghan 44, and their two children – Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four – he has so far retained his title.
While his relationship with King Charles may have softened slightly in recent months, it is widely understood that Harry and his older brother, Prince William, have been estranged for some time and remain out of contact. A series of high-profile diary clashes over the past year have seen the brothers go head-to-head for front page news, prompting royal commentators to speculate that this might not help ease the tension between the pair.
Following the removal of Andrew’s titles by the monarch in October amid ongoing public backlash over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, some royal experts have suggested that Harry and Meghan could be just as “vulnerable” to losing their official royal status when Prince William eventually becomes king.
Royal author Tom Bower has previously suggested that Harry and Meghan are on “borrowed time” regarding their titles, a view which is shared by royal expert Tom Skyes. Writing for the Daily Beast, Sykes said he believes William would move swiftly to issue “letter patent” stripping princely titles from non-working royals when the time comes for him to take the throne, describing the move as a “dramatic change”.
There has been speculation that Harry and Meghan will loose their royal titles(Image: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
There is some precedent for such a move, with the Danish Queen Margrethe II, removing the prince and princess titles from her four grandchildren back in 2022. At the time, she said the decision was intended to “future-proof” the monarchy, though later she apologised for the distress it caused, admitting she “underestimated” how her son, Prince Joachim, and his children would react.
At the time, Joachim said: “It’s never fun to see your children being mistreated like that. They find themselves in a situation they do not understand.”
The concept of a “slimmed down” monarchy is something King Charles himself has put forward for many years, driven by the desire to reduce costs for taxpayers and ensure the longevity of the institution.
Despite all of this, one royal expert told the Mirror that she believes removing Harry and Meghan’s titles is unlikely to feature anywhere near the top of Prince William’s priorities when he eventually takes to the throne.
This is simply because William has far more pressing matters to address than settling a personal score with his younger brother, even if they haven’t been getting on in recent years. The expert, commentator Afua Acheampong-Hagan, said that at his core William is not “petty” and is smart enough to understand how such a move would be viewed publicly.
Instead, the future king is firmly focused on tackling major societal challenges and driving ambitious, high-impact initiatives designed to improve people’s lives. These include William’s Homewards project, which aims to demonstrate that homelessness in the UK can be ended, as well as the Earthshot Prize, which promotes innovators developing solutions to the climate crisis and helps provide a framework to scale their ideas globally.
The expert claims that taking away his brother and sister-in-law’s titles as a priority would “just make him look petty”. They continued: “I don’t think he’s got time to do that, and, also, he doesn’t want that to be the focus of his reign when it comes. ‘Oh the first thing I’m going to do is take away my brother’s titles,’ for what?
“What would be the point? It’s really silly to be focussing on [whether] that’s the thing he might do when he comes to reign.”
The expert believes William has bigger issues to deal with when he becomes King(Image: UK Press via Getty Images)
The expert adds that in her opinion: “There’s so many other things that the Royal Family need to do to modernise, taking away people’s titles for living their own lives, it will seem silly and petty, so I just don’t think that he will.”
Given that William’s high-profile efforts to drive meaningful change are “definitely” his main focus, the expert says that moving swiftly to strip Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet of their royal titles “would just seem really, really petty,” and would not align with what is known about William’s character or priorities.
“I genuinely don’t think he is that petty, and I think he knows if he did that, that’s how he would come across,” the expert adds, addressing the ongoing speculation.