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It seems Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, had plenty of nicknames during their time at the Palace; and after they left. And not all of them are kind.
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According to royal author Craig Brown, who wrote A Voyage Around the Queen, he revealed that after the pair left, Meghan and Harry’s real names are rarely ever brought up. Instead, palace insiders have a rather cold and harsh nickname for them.
“These days, the names of Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, do not crop up very often in court circles,” Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth said to Brown when discussing the new nicknames via The Mirror. “When they do, courtiers flinch almost imperceptibly and change the subject—or, if that’s not possible, refer to them obliquely as ‘persons who live overseas.’”
“Persons who live overseas?” That’s a whole new level of cold!
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Meghan and Duchess of Sussex at the 2026 Fifteen Percent Pledge Fundraising Gala held at Paramount Studios on February 07, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
Gilbert Flores/Variety
Now, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard about their nicknames. In Valentine Low’s book Courtiers: Intrigue, Ambition, and the Power Players Behind the House of Windsor, quite a few claims from former royal staffers have given themselves a nickname after working for the Sussexes. Harry and Meghan’s former staffers referred to themselves as the “Sussex Survivors Club.”
What’s crazy is that staffers originally gave Meghan a really sweet nickname. A new royal book only available in the U.K., Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History, written by Hugo Vickers, revealed staffers gave her the nickname “Sparkle” because she brought a sense of hope to the palace, per Page Six.
Before you go, click here to see more of Meghan Markle & Prince Harry‘s milestones since leaving the royal family.
