The Queen confirmed earlier this year Meghan Markle and Prince Harry would be able to hold on to their HRH titles despite choosing to quit their royal careers. As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex take more steps to become independent from the Royal Family, questions have been asked about the pair still using their styles outside of their royal career. But commentator Andrew Pierce suggested Her Majesty’s decision was the result of a rather “heavy-handed” move.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Mr Pierce said: “Part of the reason I think no move was made to take their titles away is that the Royal Family would get over how seared they were by the way they treated Princess Diana.
“She had HRH stripped from her and she was then to be known as Diana, Princess of Wales. And then, of course, they offered the title back to her in the week she died.
“Ridiculous, panic reaction. So I think now they always remember that, the Royal Family perhaps was heavy-handed with Diana.
“But Diana was going to be the Queen Mum, that would have been her role in life. Very different.”
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Diana had both her HRH and Princess of Wales removed in the aftermath of her very public divorce from Prince Charles in 1996.
As the mother of the future king, the princess continued to be considered a member of the Royal Family and maintained her position in the precedence order she had gained through her marriage.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were granted permission to maintain their styles but the Queen banned them from using their Duke and Duchess of Sussex styles for commercial gains.
But the decision appeared to have little effect on the Duke and Duchess’ attempts to launch an independent career for themselves across the pond.
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Ms Mills said: “I think the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s hands have been forced this week after it was announced that they’d signed that enormous deal with Netflix.
“Neither Netflix nor Sussexes have said how much money they’re making from that deal but it’s estimated it could be around £100 million.”
Ms Mills continued: “So if they’re bringing in that money, it makes sense that they’re going to pay this money back to the taxpayer for this home that they still want to keep here in the UK.
“Every year when we try to unpick the royal finances, there are often a few things that raise eyebrows.
“Last year, the big thing that stood out was that £2.4 million bill to refurbish Frogmore Cottage.
“The reason that people again started talking about just how much money it cost to refurbish it was because at the start of the year Harry and Meghan announced they wanted to step away from royal duties.”
