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Prince Harry will not be stripped of the title His Royal Highness as he meets the Queen and senior royals race to thrash out plans for his future, it has been claimed.
Royal biographer Robert Hardman said the Duke of Sussex ‘was born HRH – he’s going to stay HRH’, but added that a role in the Commonwealth might be difficult.
The meeting at the Queen’s private Sandringham estate today will see her, William and Charles discuss Harry’s move with wife Meghan to step down as senior royals.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex during their visit to Canada House in London last Tuesday
Mr Hardman told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘People have tended to focus on things like ‘oh, will they be stripped of their titles?’ That’s not going to happen.
‘Prince Harry was born HRH – he’s going to stay HRH – I don’t believe that’s even on the table. But there’s just a lot of very pragmatic stuff that needs to be discussed.
Mr Hardman, who is a features writer for the Daily Mail, added: ‘They’ve talked about wanting to retain a role in the Commonwealth.
‘The Commonwealth isn’t a plaything of the Royal Family. The Royal Family spent years, generations trying to adjust its relationship with what used to be the Empire.
Royal biographer Robert Hardman told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning (pictured) that the Duke of Sussex ‘was born HRH – he’s going to stay HRH’
‘Since the creation of the modern Commonwealth, the Royal Family have been very careful to step back from any sort of executive role, it’s a symbolic figurehead role.
‘So to just sort of to say, ‘Well, I’d quite like to do this in the Commonwealth’, you’ve got to get it past 53 nations, not just your family.’
Harry and Meghan will need titles if they can continue to undertake duties on behalf of the Queen.
They could voluntarily relinquish their HRHs and retain their courtesy titles, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, given by the Queen.
However the couple’s new brand – Sussex Royal – is built around the kudos of being a royal highness.
Losing this would it signal this is an abdication in all but name and it would mean the couple being lower down the pecking order than Prince Andrew’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah lost her HRH after her divorce in 1996 as did Diana when she split from Charles the same year.
Last week, former MP Norman Baker, a Privy Council member, said the Queen has the ability to strip the Sussexes of the title, adding: ‘You are either a member of the Royal Family or not.’
But members of the Royal Family do not see any benefit in them losing their titles.
They are acutely aware of the disastrous consequences when Harry’s mother, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, lost her HRH status as the public believed she had been vengefully stripped of her status.
Last week constitutional expert Robert Hazell said: ‘The title HRH is in the gift of the Queen so if she wanted to remove it, it’s a matter for her own discretion.’
Mr Hazell, of University College London’s constitution unit, added that ‘if the political and Parliamentary will were there, Parliament could legislate’ on the issue too.
‘Parliament can legislate on anything, it is sovereign,’ he said.
A summit will take place at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk today involving Prince Harry, the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William to discuss Harry’s future with the Royal Family
‘For example, the rules of succession were changed by the Succession to the Crown Act of 2013 to introduce gender equality.
‘If the government wished, Parliament could also legislate to remove royal titles. But that is highly unlikely. I would be very surprised if the government wanted to get involved, although the Prime Minister maybe asked about it.
‘Ultimately, it’s a matter of judgement for the Queen. She will be very concerned about the potential reputational damage to the monarchy.
‘She will also have conflicting feelings about it because, after all, this is her grandson we are talking about.’
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