Meghan Markle & Prince Harry Baby Will Not Be A Prince Or Princess

The announcement that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were expecting their first baby was no big surprise to many royal watchers who speculated that the former actress was hiding a baby bump underneath the loose coat she wore to Princess Eugenie’s wedding to Jack Brooksbank on Friday, October 12.

What has many fans of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stunned is that their first-born, as a great-grandchild of the sovereign, is too far down the line of succession to be either a prince or princess as decreed over 100 years ago.

According to a report by Express, King George V, Harry’s great-great-grandfather, limited titles within the royal family in back in 1917.

George V declared that “the grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have and enjoy in all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of Dukes of these Our Realms.”

What this means is that the first-born son of Harry and Markle would become Earl of Dumbarton. This was one of the subsidiary titles Harry received from the queen on the morning of his wedding to Markle in May of this year.

If the couple welcomes a daughter, she would be Lady (whatever name they give her) Mountbatten-Windsor.

It is only Queen Elizabeth that has the power to change this, allowing the couple’s children to be given the title of His (or Her) Royal Highness and prince and princess.

Express reported that it was just ahead of Prince George’s birth, the first-born son of Prince William and Kate Middleton, that the queen issued what is known as a Letters Patent to ensure the Cambridge children had their proper titles.

Without this amendment, the second children Prince William, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, would have been a lady and a lord instead. Prince George, as the eldest son of the eldest son of the prince of Wales, would still have been a prince.

If she chooses to do so, the queen may amend her great-grandchildren’s titles as well, despite the fact that any child of Prince Harry and Markle will likely never inherit the throne.

The newest member of the royal family is due in the spring of 2019, as announced by Kensington Palace in an official statement on October 15.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are currently in Australia for an official two-week tour. During the visit, they’ll visit Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, and Fiji. The tour coincides with the third Invictus Games, an international sporting competition for wounded veterans and members of the military created by Prince Harry in 2014.