Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor may be seventh in line to the British throne and a great-grandchild of the reigning monarch, but—as the public was reminded in Harry and Meghan’s primetime interview with Oprah Winfrey—in one crucial way, Archie is just like you or me: He isn’t a Prince and doesn’t have a title.
If things remain as they currently stand, that could change when his grandfather becomes the monarch. “Archie will be able to use the title of HRH Prince when Charles becomes King,” says royal historian Carolyn Harris, author of Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting, told Town & Country shortly after Archie’s birth. She added, “but it is possible that he will not use this title. Archie will not be able to pass the title of Prince or Princess to his children as they will be another generation removed from the sovereign, but the title of Duke of Sussex will pass to Prince Harry’s male line descendants.” (Male line refers to the system of patrilineage, in which a child inherits titles from their father, not their mother—unless their mother happens to be Queen.)
That would mean that when Charles becomes King, Archie will become His Royal Highness (HRH) Prince Archie, the same title that his cousins George, Charlotte, and Louis currently use. If the title “Prince” is what makes your ears perk up here, know that the “HRH” designation is almost as rarified and special. (Diana famously lost…
