If you’re gearing up for “Princess Meghan” Markle to walk down the aisle to marry Prince Harry, you might want to rethink things.
While Markle will indeed receive a princess title on her wedding day, it will not include Markle’s own name. Royal expert Alastair Bruce spoke with InStyle exclusively about what fans can call Markle once she says “I do.” His answers might surprise you.
“At that moment, she becomes Her Royal Highness Princess Harry of Wales. Well, that’s a big change,” he told InStyle.
Her Royal Highness Princess Harry of Wales is quite a title, but what about calling her Princess Meghan instead? As it turns out, that option is entirely off the table.
“She will never ever be Her Royal Highness Princess Meghan. That will never happen,” he said. “She will become Her Royal Highness Princess Harry of Wales, because we don’t give the brides titles in their own right. It’s a tradition in Britain. There’s a reason, but it’s very boring.”
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While Markle will get the princess title no matter what once she marries Prince Harry, there is also a chance that Markle could be made a duchess, though that won’t be clear until the morning of her wedding.
“It’s highly likely, but you cannot guarantee these things because the queen is the fountain of all honors; the sovereign is the fountain of all honor. If the queen wishes it, she may make her grandson a duke on the morning of the wedding, and if that is done, then it will be announced probably about 8 or 10 a.m., and then of course, at the moment of marriage, she will become the duchess of wherever that is: Her Royal Highness the Duchess of wherever that is,” Bruce told InStyle. “We’ll have to see what the Queen decides to do.”
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If you recall, that’s exactly what happened when Prince William and Kate Middleton married, and they were named the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. As it turns out though, Middleton also has a lesser-known princess title of her own.
“She became Duchess of Cambridge, but she also became, and is, Her Royal Highness Princess William of Wales,” Bruce said.
The more you know.