Meghan Markle and Prince Harry earlier this year requested permission from the Queen to continue using their Sussex Royal brand to launch their careers outside of the Royal Family but were refused. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are believed to have engaged in lengthy discussions with Her Majesty but had ultimately been forced to drop plans for the brand because of their decision to no longer act as working royals for the foreseeable future. But royal commentator Marlene Koenig told Express.co.uk suggested Meghan and Harry could still capitalise on their surname without infringing the alleged ban on the use of their titles.
Ms Koenig said the couple could use a trick other members of the Royal Family have been using for years to promote their projects with international content platform Netflix.
She said: “I think it would be a smart idea just to use Sussex in the credits because then you really cannot be accused of using the title.”
The expert said generations of royals had used the method to avoid accusations of exploiting their royal connections to earn money.
Ms Koenig continued: “When Edward did his production company, and when he worked in the theatre, he was Edward Windsor.
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“When Prince Richard of Gloucester, now the Duke, was an architect he used as his name Richard Gloucester.
“Beatrice at Afiniti uses Beatrice York. Eugenie at Hauser & Wirth, she is Eugenie York.”
Minor members of the Royal Family not included in the working royals category have long been working to earn money independently from the royal purse.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle also announced in January their plans to become financially independent and establish themselves as private citizens rather than royals.
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“They also have to pay people and staff, they don’t get to keep all of their money and a good chunk will go to Uncle Sam and Uncle California.
“And Harry has to be careful because he will also be taxed in the United Kingdom.”
She added: “Your status depends on how successful you are. I think their titles will only get them so far if, and I don’t want this to be an if, their programmes are successful and they do well on Netflix but I do think they need to be a little bit more careful.
“This is not condemnation because I like them, I’m fond of them. I would have preferred them to stay in the Royal Family and work within the guidelines and be able to do both but they wanted to do more.”
