By HRH Princess Eugene Majuru
Loss or Relinquishment of the ‘HRH’ Style
The style His/Her Royal Highness (HRH) is a critical marker of a senior working royal. Its removal or relinquishment is a significant demotion in status.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Prince Harry and Meghan Markle)
Circumstance: Stepped back as working members of the Royal Family in 2020.
Outcome: They formally agreed with the late Queen Elizabeth II to stop using the “His/Her Royal Highness” style in official capacity.
Note: Prince Harry retains his birthright title of Prince and his peerage of Duke of Sussex, but he does not use the “HRH” prefix.
Diana, Princess of Wales
Circumstance: Her divorce from Prince Charles (now King Charles III) in 1996.
Outcome: She lost the style of Her Royal Highness as part of the divorce settlement. She was subsequently styled as Diana, Princess of Wales.
Sarah, Duchess of York (Sarah Ferguson)
Circumstance: Her divorce from Prince Andrew in 1996.
Outcome: She also lost the style of Her Royal Highness and is officially styled as Sarah, Duchess of York.
The Duke of Windsor (King Edward VIII)
Circumstance: He abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson.
Outcome: He was subsequently created Duke of Windsor and was allowed to retain the HRH style. However, his wife, Wallis Simpson, was denied the style of Her Royal Highness by royal decree.
Princess Patricia of Connaught
Circumstance: In 1919, she married a non-royal, Commander Alexander Ramsay.
Outcome: She voluntarily gave up her titles and the style HRH to become Lady Patricia Ramsay.
Titles Not Conferred
In some cases, titles that could have been claimed by birthright were simply not used, often to allow a smaller public profile for the children.
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh’s Children (Prince Edward and Sophie)
Circumstance: On their wedding day in 1999, Queen Elizabeth II announced that with Prince Edward and Sophie’s consent, any children they had would be styled as the children of an Earl, not as Prince/Princess and HRH, which they were entitled to as grandchildren of the monarch (via the male line).
Outcome: Their children are Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex (formerly Viscount Severn), deliberately keeping a lower profile than a Prince or Princess.
The modern trend is for members of the family to voluntarily agree to the non-use of the HRH style—a bureaucratic demotion—rather than an involuntary, full stripping of the Prince title, which has been reserved for the gravest of circumstances like the WWI treasons or, most recently, the scandals surrounding Prince Andrew.
#highlights
# Andrew Mountbatten
#British Monarchy
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