Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left the Royal Family’s inner fold earlier this year of their own accord. When negotiating the terms of their exit, they agreed to stop using their HRH statuses for their new line of work abroad — but they were not stripped of them completely. While Harry lost his military appointments and they had to renounce the use of the moniker ‘Sussex Royal’ for their new charitable venture, the couple are still known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
However, following their most recent attempts to encourage voters to hit the ballot box in the US presidential election in November, royal fans have called for them to be stripped completely of their royal titles.
Yet this could cause greater problems further down the line, as proven by Sigvard Bernadotte — the second son of the former King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden.
At the time of his birth in 1907, his grandfather Gustaf V was the king and Mr Bernadotte was third-in-line to the throne.
Yet, he was stripped of his title of prince back in 1934 when he decided to marry a commoner without his grandfather’s knowledge, and became known as a “Mr” on his passport and in public.
He and his wife divorced in 1943 and his older brother, the heir, died in a plane accident in 1947.
However, Mr Bernadotte was still pushed down the line of succession by his brother’s son, who was born in 1946.
He went on to marry two more commoners over the following decades as well.
He decided in later life that the “prince” status was his birthright, though.
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Usually, the Swedish monarch has to be informed, and then they make a deal with the government to approve of the match — none of which Mr Bernadotte did.
Yet, in 2001 The Guardian reported: “In his complaint, Bernadotte accused the Swedish monarchy of human rights violation by denying him the right to his name, privacy and family life, rights guaranteed under the European Convention on Human Rights.
“The complaint also asserts that the convention is contravened because the monarch’s decision cannot be appealed to any higher authority.”
His lawyer Eva-Maj Muhlenbock said: “It is a human rights violation every time the King chooses not to make a new decision in the matter.”
Mr Bernadotte accepted that his marital decision removed him from the line of succession to the Swedish throne but was determined to regain his title.
Mr Bernadotte’s lawyer said: “The prince title is the same as a name and you can’t take away a person’s right to their name.”
Still, In 1951, Mr Bernadotte was allowed into the nobility of Luxembourg and known as Count of Wisborg.
However, after his death the European Court of Human Rights said his application to have the Swedish Government acknowledge his title was inadmissible.
