How are Prince Harry and Meghan properly addressed?

There is confusion among many of the titles, styles, and honors of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan.

The Duchess of Sussex's incorrectly-labelled "HRH" The Duchess of Sussex

Here's the historical background:

Please remember: Female descendants are never granted HRH Prince/Princess unless they are the daughter of a sovereign EXCEPT in special circumstances.

In the 19th century, the styles of HRH (and even His/Her Highness) and titles of Prince/Princess were finally conferred via letters patent after the longstanding tradition of the 18th century of conferring HRH Prince/Princess upon children and male-line grandchildren of the sovereign, and then HH to male-line great-grandsons. HH has since been phased out.

The people who are granted automatically HRH Prince/Princess are as follows:

  • Children of the sovereign (per 1917 letters patent)
  • Male-line grandchildren of the sovereign (per above)
  • The children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales (per amendment in 2012)
Female-line grandchildren, per that, are not HRH Prince/Princess. Female children of the sovereign are the only women in the royal family permitted to attach their own name to their title. That is why Princess Michael of Kent is not Princess Marie-Christine of Kent, and thus Princess Anne was born Princess Anne.

The following special circumstances have been made:
  • Children of Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh (1948) granted HRH and princely titles
  • Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (1940s) granted to use HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent instead of HRH The Dowager Duchess of Kent so she would not be confused with her daughter-in-law, Katharine.
  • The children of Prince Edward and Sophie (2003) would be styled as children of an earl and would choose for themselves if they would use HRH Prince/Princess when they had turned of age. 
Children of princes with a title have "of X" after their name. For example, Prince George is HRH Prince George of Wales, as his father is the Prince of Wales.

Note that also HRH does not automatically come with the princely title. Prince Philip was made His Royal Highness by George VI prior to his marriage to Princess Elizabeth, but was created a prince later after Elizabeth became queen.

Wives of British princes:

Upon marrying a prince, a female becomes HRH Princess (husband's Christian name) and a Princess of the United Kingdom. Though note, that while The Princess of Wales is a Princess of the United Kingdom, she is not Princess Catherine. In more detail, as per tradition, British princes are most commonly granted dukedoms on the occasion of their marriage. Prince William of Wales, before marrying Catherine Middleton, was created Duke of Cambridge. Thus, he became called HRH The Duke of Cambridge, and his wife HRH The Duchess of Cambridge. 
Prince Michael of Kent, Queen Elizabeth II's cousin, was not granted one upon marrying his wife, Marie-Christine. Therefore, she is known as Princess Michael of Kent.

This technically means also that an alternate but equally formal term for The Princess of Wales is Princess William, just as Sophie may technically be addressed Princess Edward, etc., etc., although they will use their husband's peerage title as there is no need to use the husband's Christian name if the wife can be identified by her husband's title.

Queen Elizabeth II issued letters patent in the 1990s wives who get divorced from princes are not entitled to use HRH.

The surname of the royal family:

Per the 1960 Privy Council proclamation, Queen Elizabeth II established the following:
  • The Royal House is under the name Windsor.
  • If a legal name is required, everyone in the Royal Family with HRH Prince/Princess use the surname Windsor.
  • If a legal name is required, those who are descendants without HRH Prince/Princess of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip use the name Mountbatten-Windsor.
Contrary to this, all HRH Prince/Princesses who are descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip have used Mountbatten-Windsor. Princess Anne, in 1972, used Mountbatten-Windsor even though she was able to use Windsor as her legal surname.

Female royals who marry assume their husband's surname, as do their children.

For Harry and Meghan:

Prince Harry's proper title:

The Duke of Sussex

Meghan's proper title:

The Duchess of Sussex

Their children are HRH Prince Archie of Sussex and HRH Princess Lilibet of Sussex.

Per the statement of Buckingham Palace in January 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan are not to use HRH following their stepping back as senior members of the royal family. 

The surname of the pair use the same rules as stated above. References that Meghan has made to using "Sussex" and also Prince Harry's recent introduction as "Harry Wales" and "Prince Harry Wales-Sussex" are wrong. The use of HRH recently by Meghan also contradicts agreements between the Duke and Duchess and The late Queen.

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