A royal watcher claims Prince Harry must be fearing that the royal titles he and his wife, Meghan, hold may one day be taken away by Prince William after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his. Biographer Tom Bower described King Charles’s decision late last month to remove Andrew’s prince and duke titles, following allegations of further revelations about his younger brother’s links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, as “ruthless”.
Bower, who has written unauthorised biographies about the Royal Family, said that the move should serve as a serious warning to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex about the fate of their own titles after Prince William ascends to the throne. The author claimed that Andrew losing his titles, including that of Prince, “was an unbelievable shock” for Harry, and it “changes everything”.
He told The Mirror Harry “must really fear that William will strip him, Meghan and the children of their titles” when he becomes king.
Bower claimed the pair are on “borrowed time and vulnerable now, because I don’t think there is anything they can do to reverse the hurt they have caused Kate and William, and William is still furious”.
The Duke and Duchess, who stepped down as senior royals in January 2020, voiced extensive complaints about their time within the institution, including in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, after announcing their intention to step back from front-line duties and be financially self-sufficient.
Harry’s 2023 memoir Spare described tensions between himself and William, and sharing private accounts about the famously secretive family is thought to have caused major friction between the two brothers.
The Duke and Duchess now live in Montecito, California, with their two children. They continue to run their various charitable endeavours, as well as launching lucrative commercial deals. These included a production agreement with Netflix, thought to be worth tens of millions of pounds to produce content for the streaming giant.
Critics, including Bower, have accused them of trading off their royal status, something the couple reject.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex still retain their royal titles and HRH style, but as per a mutual agreement with the Firm, they do not use the latter in a commercial context.
Despite the huge sums they reportedly agreed with Netflix, Bower claims the Sussexes have “a real problem” because neither of them is making any “serious money”, so “the threat is they’ll do something foolish and damaging to the royal family”.
However, Bower noted that taking away their titles wouldn’t be as easy a decision as taking away Andrew’s, and that King Charles won’t do it.
He also acknowledged there’s “no reason ostensibly at the moment to strip them of their titles, they haven’t done anything embarrassing,” other than, as he claims, “trading” on them.
“They would have to be very careful about how they do it, but I think it is inevitable,” he claimed.
Last month, the King officially stripped Andrew of his HRH style and prince title, while removing his dukedom from the Roll of the Peerage over Andrew’s “serious lapses” of judgment. It was revealed that the royal would now be known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
The move followed the publication of posthumous memoirs by Andrew’s accuser, Virginia Giuffre, and the US Government’s release of documents from Epstein’s estate.
It was alleged that Andrew had emailed Epstein in 201,1, saying “we’re in this together”, three months after he claimed he had broken all contact with the sex offender.
The former Duke of York has faced allegations that he sexually assaulted a teenage Ms Giuffre after she was trafficked by Epstein. Andrew strenuously denies the accusations and any wrongdoing.
A representative for the Sussexes declined to comment. Express.co.uk has also reached out to Kensington Palace.