Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 'demoted' on Royal Family website
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been 'demoted' on the Royal Family's website, and now feature second-to-last on the Members of Royal Family page. The only royal below the couple on the list is Prince Andrew who was stripped of his royal titles following a sexual abuse allegation, although he denies any wrongdoing.
"The change has been made because the Duke and Duchess are no longer working royals, unlike those who now appear above them," a source told the Daily Mail. Prince Harry – who is fifth-in-line to the throne after Prince William, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – is even below Princess Alexandra, a cousin of the Queen and 56th in the line of succession. Other royals on the list are (in order): King Charles III, the Queen Consort, Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Edward, Sophie Wessex, the Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Anne, the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent.
"When one quits a job the old company does not normally leave them on the website. They're lucky to be there at all," one royal fan tweeted in response to the 'demotion'. Another fan disagreed, writing: "No matter what you may think of them it is irrefutable that Harry is son of the King – shuffling lists cannot change that."
To recap, Harry and Meghan stepped down from life as senior working royals in 2020 and vowed to live financially independent. They moved to California with their son, Archie Harrison, and later welcomed a daughter, Lilibet Diana. The couple have only returned to the UK a handful of times, most recently for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II earlier this month.
During the landmark event, Harry made headlines when he was banned by the Royal Family from wearing his military uniform to the state funeral, despite serving in the Armed Forces for a decade and undertaking two tours of Afghanistan. At the time, a spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex said: "His decade of military service is not determined by the uniform he wears and we respectfully ask that focus remain on the life and legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II."
Following a mixed reaction from royal fans, the decision was somewhat overturned – in what royal experts branded a "dramatic u-turn" – and Harry was permitted to wear his uniform when the Queen's grandchildren performed a vigil. However, like Prince Andrew (who also served in the Forces), he was not allowed to wear his military uniform to the state funeral, instead wearing a mourning suit.
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