It has been exactly a year since it was confirmed that as grandchildren of the monarch, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s children Archie and Lilibet would be taking on prince and princess titles

When King Charles took to the throne almost 18 months ago, it was inevitable there would be a raft of title changes.

Almost straight after his succession, Prince William and Kate became the Prince and Princess of Wales, while Camilla became Queen. And six months later, which was a year ago today, it was announced that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s children were now known as Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet – following a statement from the Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍es confirming Lilibet had been christened – with both entitled to use the styles as grandchildren of the monarch.

Days later, it was announced that Prince Edward was being granted the title Duke of Edinburgh after his late father Prince Philip, making his wife Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh. This announcement came from Buckingham Palace and revealed how Charles was “pleased” to confer the title on his younger brother.

And according to royal expert and editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine Ingrid Seward at the time of the announcements, the difference between the announcements was “stark” with one word missing from Archie and Lilibet’s. She told the Mirror: “The contrast between the way in which Harry and Meghan released the news of their children’s royal titles and the way King Charles announced his brother’s ennoblement was stark.

“King Charles issued a formal statement from Buckingham Palace to say he was ‘pleased’ to confer the Dukedom of Edinburgh upon The Prince Edward, Earl of Wes𝓈ℯ𝓍 and Forfar. It was such a grand announcement it felt as if it were in a gilded frame pinned to the Buckingham Palace railings. Harry and Meghan on the other hand asked their spokesperson to announce when their daughter Lilibet was christened in Los Angeles she would be baptised using the royal style princess. Archie in turn would use the style, Prince.”

Meanwhile, Ingrid noted it was “interesting” Harry and Meghan waited six months to announce their children’s new titles – and believes they were waiting for Buckingham Palace to “jump the gun”. She added: “They have been allowed to use this style since their great-grandmother died, but their parents have chosen not to until now. How interesting they waited six months to do this. They were hoping the Palace would jump the gun and announce it before they did. No such luck. Buckingham Palace left its website intact and allowed the Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍es to make the move themselves so they couldn’t complain.”

Last month, Harry and Meghan quietly launched their new site sus𝓈ℯ𝓍.com and sparked a royal row by using it to boast of their links to the Royal Family. The main homepage welcomes visitors to the site of “The Office of Prince Harry & Meghan, The Duke & Duchess of Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍” and features a special coat of arms designed for Meghan. The site also has lenghty bios for each of the couple, with very similar paragraphs appearing in both describing their home and family life.

Harry’s reads: “Prince Harry lives in California with his wife Meghan, and their two children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.” While Meghan’s says: “Meghan lives in California with her husband and their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.” And according to a royal source, mentioning their children by referring to them as Prince and Princess has caused ‘surprise’.

Archie, four, and two-year-old Lilibet weren’t given prince/princess or HRH titles at birth as they were not at the time grandchildren of the monarch – this was despite Meghan saying in the couple’s interview with US talk show host Oprah Winfrey that Archie was not given the title of prince because of his race. Despite railing against their time in the Royal Family, when Charles became King in September 2022, Archie and Lilibet became the grandchildren of a Monarch which changed their status.