Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet Should Have Titles, Americans Say

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's children should have prince and princess titles in the eyes of most Americans, exclusive polling for Newsweek indicates.

The Sussex children were born simply Archie and Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor but when Queen Elizabeth II died and their grandfather became King Charles III they automatically became Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Harry and Meghan have begun using the titles despite the duchess telling Oprah Winfrey in March 2021 that they can bring "a lot of pain."

And 53 percent of Americans said their children should have the right to the titles, according to polling by Redfield & Wilton for Newsweek, while 15 percent said they should not. Fourteen percent did not know and 18 percent said they did not care.

While Archie and Lilibet have been prince and princess since September, Meghan and Harry did not initially use the titles publicly, meaning it was not widely known they had been granted.

Newsweek was initially told in the days after Elizabeth's death that it was not the time to consider their designation, though Charles did announce that Prince William and Kate Middleton were to be Prince and Princess of Wales.

Harry and Meghan confirmed the new titles for their children after Lilibet was christened earlier in March. The move sparked debate due to past comments by Meghan expressing concern about the implications of being titled and following sweeping criticism of the monarchy by the couple.

Meghan told Oprah in March 2021: "It's not our decision to make, right?  Even though I have a lot of clarity on what comes with the titles, good and bad—and from my experience, a lot of pain. I, again, wouldn't wish pain on my child, but that is their birthright to then make a choice about."

However, the situation was more complicated still because Meghan linked the question of titles to both the question of whether her children would receive police protection and the accusation that an unnamed family member had expressed "concern" about how dark her children's skin might be.

She said there were discussions within the family about denying her children their titles, making the fact they did eventually inherit them all the more significant.

"The idea of our son not being safe," she told CBS, "and also the idea of the first member of color in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be . . .

"You know, the other piece of that conversation is, there's a convention—I forget if it was George V or George VI convention—that when you're the grandchild of the monarch, so when Harry's dad becomes king, automatically Archie and our next baby would become prince or princess, or whatever they were going to be."

It is under the George V convention that Archie and Lilibet became prince and princess. Newsweek was told in the days after the Oprah interview that Meghan was referring to changes that had been discussed but never implemented.

Polling for Newsweek also showed that nearly half of Americans think Harry and Meghan should go to King Charles' coronation, which is on Archie's fourth birthday, May 6.

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.