Royalist: Wrathful Prince William plans to strip Prince Archie & Lili of their HRHs

Originally, this whole storyline started when reports circulated in the British media that Prince Harry had asked his uncle, Charles Spencer (the Earl of Spencer) for advice about whether the Sussexes should change their surname to Spencer. The Guardian had an interesting follow-up in which “Sussex sources” basically confirmed that Harry did have that conversation with his uncle, but the context was that Buckingham Palace basically caused a months-long delay in issuing Archie and Lili’s British passports because King Charles was still dithering over whether or not his mixed-race grandchildren should have royal titles/styles.

As I said, the actual story is “despotic king uses power to disrupt the issuing of his grandchildren’s passports.” Magically, that is NOT the story in the British media. They’re focused on a different part of the Guardian’s report, this line in particular: “The Guardian understands that Prince Harry wants to keep the HRH titles for his children so that when they grow older they can decide for themselves whether they want to become working royals, or stay out of public life.” We’ve seen the left-behinds organize emotional-support polls, but why not a special emotional-support briefing straight from Prince William and his merry band of dipsh-ts? Would you believe that William is spitting with rage at the very idea that his niece and nephew might have HRHs? From the Royalist exclusive in the Daily Beast:

Prince William will strip his exiled brother Prince Harry’s children of their HRH titles when he becomes king after a provocative briefing by the exiled royal “flabbergasted” royal insiders, The Royalist has learned. The suggestion was tucked away in a report in the U.K. newspaper The Guardian almost 10 days ago, which reported: “The Guardian understands that Prince Harry wants to keep the HRH titles for his children so that when they grow older they can decide for themselves whether they want to become working royals, or stay out of public life.” The formulation, “The Guardian understands…” is often used by the newspaper to report on a background briefing by authorized sources, such as PR teams.

The line about the HRH (His/Her Royal Highness) titles was not widely noticed by individuals in the royal circle until it was flagged by the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden this week, after which it flew around royal friends’ WhatsApp groups. Reactions, on the whole, veered between dismissive and flabbergasted.

One friend of Prince William’s told The Daily Beast: “William obviously isn’t going to hire Archie and Lilibet. This is just trolling on the part of Harry and Meghan. It’s actually hilarious that no one even noticed it for ten days, until the Mail did it. The idea that somehow having a vestigial HRH as a baby later entitles you to be a working royal is beyond parody, even for them. Harry and Meghan were asked by the queen to stop using their HRHs, and agreed. Obviously, any reasonable person would understand that would mean your kids don’t use them either.”

“The simple fact is that Meghan has gone back on the deal by using her HRH. It’s a straightforward betrayal of the deal, and if she now intends to start parading the kids as HRHs to aggrandize herself, it just adds to the case to remove them, legally, altogether.”

Another friend of the family also told The Daily Beast that they believed the HRHs would ultimately be officially removed. The second friend said: “An HRH is a funny thing. It’s often referred to as a title, but it’s actually technically a ‘style,’ i.e., a way of addressing someone. It’s a courtesy. It denotes no official role and it bestows no formal rank in the British system, in the way being a duke or duchess does. An HRH is bestowed by letters patent—which is basically a fancy way of saying it is a legally binding royal decree—and by precedent an HRH can be taken away by royal decree also. Look at Diana and Fergie. The HRHs weren’t removed ‘because they got divorced,’ the rules were quietly changed to remove HRHs from royal exes. There is a difference.”

The friend added: “They have asked the Sussexes politely to stop using the style, to no avail, so I imagine William will simply issue new letters patent to formally remove the entire family’s right to use HRH when he becomes king. It will likely be presented as part of a wider tidying up exercise to reduce, more broadly, the number of HRHs in circulation. He could, for example, say that only working royals are entitled to use HRH, which seems sensible if you are trying to modernize, or specify that only children of the monarch are HRH, not the grandchildren, which would have the added advantage of making things clearer for their own kids’ families in due course.”

A former courtier who retains good links with the palace told the Daily Beast: “The bottom line is that Harry and Meghan are abusing the fact that the queen trusted them to adhere to the deal made at the Sandringham Summit, and that won’t be allowed to stand, especially as we all know this is really about her ability to flog tat on Instagram. Charles may not want this fight, but William despises Harry and Meghan at this stage, and when he is king his fury will rain down on them.”

[From The Daily Beast]

William is a profoundly troubled man who is deeply obsessed with “punishing” his brother and his brother’s children. We’ve sadly known that for years now. I do find it interesting that all of these people are twisting themselves in knots to claim that “Harry wants his kids to be working royals” when that line in the Guardian sounded like it came straight from a courtier’s wildest fantasy. It’s also sort of funny how the “second friend” admits that HRHs are royal styles, not titles, and that, actually, Archie and Lili ARE HRHs because of the Letters Patent. So… an admission that it’s not like Harry and Meghan are “demanding” anything other than their children’s correct titles and styles. What was this hissy fit about again? “How dare they use their correct titles!” Jesus. As someone said on Twitter, William either needs to get a job or actually work the job he has.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Meghan’s IG.