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King Charles III on Monday said his son Harry and the prince’s wife Meghan are not to be considered “working members of the royal family” after they moved back to Britain from the United States.
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The couple left Britain and quit royal duties in 2020 amid a royal family feud.
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But in a surprise move last month Harry, 41, and Meghan, 45, returned to live in the UK with their two young children Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five.
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In the letter Charles makes clear that the couple’s position is “akin to private citizens” and that they should not be addressed as his and her royal highness.
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So-called “working royals” are members of the royal family who carry out official duties on behalf of the monarch. They receive administrative and other support from the Royal Household to do so.
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A letter issued by the Lord Chamberlain, the most senior official in the Royal Household, said that following the couple’s relocation there had been “a number of requests for guidance”.
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The letter was issued “to help avoid doubt or confusion.”
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“It is well known that in January 2020 the Duke and Duchess stepped down from undertaking representative duties on behalf of the sovereign, and are no longer working members of the royal family,” it said.
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“This position, distinct from the state and royal duties undertaken by the working royal family, and with the personal latitude it brings the couple in respect of financial independence and protection of their privacy as they would wish, will continue to be fully respected.”
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Security concerns
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Current senior working royals are: Charles, his wife Queen Camilla, son and heir Prince William and his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales, as well as Charles’s sister Princess Anne and brother Edward and his wife Sophie, known as the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
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Others include several of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s cousins.
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Harry and Meghan, formally known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are reportedly living in central England’s Cotswolds region and are said to have enrolled their children at private schools there for the coming academic year.
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Harry’s grandmother Queen Elizabeth stripped them of their “Royal Highness” titles, police protection and public funding when they quit royal duties in 2020.
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“Their styles as His and Her Royal Highness… are not used,” the letter added.
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“The charitable work of the duke and duchess is a personal matter for them both and undertaken in their private capacity. In short, their position is akin to private citizens with commercial and charitable interests.”
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The clarification comes amid uncertainty over what, if any, security the Sussexes will have paid for by the state.