Will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Baby Be a Prince or Princess?
It’s confusing keeping track of all those royal titles. Kings, queens, princes, princesses, dukes, duchesses… even British natives have a difficult time remembering the proper address, especially as rules get changed and different members of the royal family adopt multiple titles.
But now that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expecting their first baby in early spring, everyone is trying to figure out the proper way to address the new young royal. Will the baby be a prince or princess? Or will he or she be a duke or duchess? Something else entirely?
The answer is both simple and complicated.
Will Baby Sussex be in the line of succession?
While it’s very unlikely that the new royal baby will ever become King or Queen, technically Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s baby will be in the line of succession. Once the bundle of joy is born, the new order will go like this:
- Prince Charles
- Prince William
- Prince George
- Princess Charlotte
- Prince Louis
- Prince Harry
- Harry and Meghan’s baby
- Prince Andrew
- Princess Beatrice
- Princess Eugenie
It’s exciting to think about! And then any future children that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have will move Prince Andrew and everyone else further down the line.
However, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have a fourth child, that baby would take the sixth spot from Prince Harry and Baby Sussex would move to the eighth position.
What will Baby Sussex’s title be?
When it comes to whether Baby Sussex will have a title, it turns out there is no set protocol for what he or she will be called. Prince William and Kate Middleton’s children are called princes and princesses because the Queen decreed it that way when they were born. But so far, the answer to that question has not been addressed publicly for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s child.
The new royal baby could be called Earl of Dumbarton if it is a boy. A girl baby would be called “Lady,” as her title followed by her first name. However, if the Queen decides to bestow prince or princess titles, then that would all change.
Do Prince Harry and Meghan Markle want their children to have titles?
There are already rumors about how Prince Harry and Meghan Markle plan to raise their children. Like Prince William and Kate Middleton, they’re not planning to spoil their kids, which could mean they refuse the titles that the Queen offers. Then again, they could accept the titles but not use them until their son or daughter reaches a certain age. It’s rumored that Prince George has no idea he’ll be king one day.
Even if their child is a prince or princess, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are planning to keep him or her as humble as possible. They don’t plan on spoiling their child because neither of them were spoiled either. It’s a wonderful tradition that will continue no matter what title the baby receives.
