In 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex decided to step away from official Royal duties – and over the following years, this has often led to confusion over how the couple should be referred to.
Scott Moore, the CEO of Prince Harry’s Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025, revealed the surprising way he was told to address Meghan Markle. The guidance he received was a far cry from the traditional form of address for a former senior Royal.
As detailed in Richard Eden’s column for the Daily Mail last year, Moore shared: “I did make sure to ask how I should be addressing them when they get here.”
He was informed that a simple “‘Ma’am’ is fine.’ He was also told a simple ‘Sir’ was fine to address the Duke of Sussex.”
Typically, male members of the Royal Family are first addressed as ‘Your Royal Highness’, followed by ‘Sir’, while female members are referred to as ‘Your Royal Highness’, and then ‘Ma’am’.
Event host Ayesha Hazarika revealed: “He’s made it clear that we are all just to call him Harry.”
Five-year-old Archie and three-year-old Lilibet have now adopted ‘Sussex’ as their surname rather than Mountbatten-Windsor, departing from a Royal tradition established in 1960. This occurred when the Queen declared that her male-line descendants would carry the Mountbatten-Windsor surname, following guidance from her advisors.
During an interview last week, Harry maintained that he did not regret his choice to publish intimate details about his family in his memoir, Spare. He told The Guardian: “My conscience is clear.”
Harry continued by saying that he will “always love the UK” and dismissed allegations that he was dissatisfied with his life, stating: “It is only in certain elements of the press where you see this talk about me being down or saying I am not smiling. This comes from people who think they know what I am thinking and how I am feeling. They are wrong.
“I think parts of the British press want to believe that I am miserable, but I’m not. I am very happy with who I am and I like the life that I live.”