Meghan Markle has provoked outrage among friends of the royal family after publishing a message addressing herself as “Your Royal Highness.”
Markle and Harry never formally surrendered their His/Her Royal Highness (HRH) titles but agreed to stop using them after they quit the royal family and left the United Kingdom.
Until now, this tenuous deal had held despite growing calls in the U.K. for the couple to be stripped of their titles.
However, Markle has now called that agreement into question by publishing a letter from Ukraine’s vice president on Instagram using the greeting this weekend.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment, but a friend of King Charles III told The Daily Beast that he would be dismayed at Markle posting a screengrab to Instagram of a message from a senior Ukrainian’s vice prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, that began, “Your Royal Highness, I would like to express my sincere thanks for everything your family is doing for Ukraine.”
“It’s outrageous. Every time you think they can’t make it worse, they make it worse,” the friend of the king said. “The deal with the HRH was a way to stop them cashing in while letting them walk away with pride and dignity and trust, and now Markle is using her HRH on a website which seems to exist to sell jam.”
“They say they want reconciliation,” the source added. “I’m sure the king’s first reaction will be dismay, but he simply doesn’t allow himself to get angry about things like this anymore.”
A friend of Prince William’s said: “It’s actually quite a clever way of testing the water, because there is deniability there, she can say, ‘Well, I just wanted to publish this nice letter to raise awareness for Ukraine, and oops! they got my name wrong—but oh, actually, now I think of it, I never gave the title up anyway, and maybe I will start using it again.‘”
“It’s a step in the wrong direction, basically, away from the agreement. You’d have to be an idiot to believe that she didn’t know exactly what she was doing when she posted that message, unedited, to her stories.”
An expert in heraldry who knows the family told The Daily Beast: “There were plenty of people at the time who said it was a mistake to make not using the title a mere gentleman’s agreement rather than just removing it. This post may not matter in and of itself, but it raises a bigger question: What are they going to do if she simply starts using her HRH again? She probably can’t be stopped as things stand right now. The bottom line is, she is, officially, an HRH. It was never removed.”
Markle’s office did not respond to a query asking if the post meant either that she would henceforth not correct people using her HRH title or that she intended to actively start using it herself again.
Harry seems lost in London
Quite where it all went wrong for Prince Harry is a matter of debate, but there is little doubt that he cut a sadly diminished figure in London’s appeal court this week, where he was conducting yet another, extremely expensive court case in pursuit of automatic, top-spec, armed security whenever he turns up in the U.K.
The bitter interview he gave afterward did little to help. He pleaded that he and Markle just wanted to create a “happy home” and that the Windsors should have supported them as it would have eased tensions more widely. He then basically accused his family of depriving him of security to control him (allegations that Harry sources have previously made to The Daily Beast) and to frustrate his and Markle’s desire to leave the royal family and “trap” them in the U.K.
Friends of the royals say the opposite is true: The last thing anyone in the family wanted after the couple left in a blaze of recriminations was for Harry or Markle to step foot in the U.K. ever again. The queen, for example, made it very clear that they couldn’t be half commercial and half royal, would have to give up their HRHs (see above), and wished them well with their life overseas.
After the Oprah interview—conducted, to the disgust of the family, as Prince Philip was dying—in which they accused unnamed members of the family, later identified as the king and Kate Middleton, of asking racist questions about their babies and skin color, attitudes hardened. The desire not to have them ever return intensified.
The great advantage of the current system—from the Windsor point of view—some sources say, is that the Sussexes have to give 28 days’ notice of their plans to be in the U.K. and a reason for their visit if they want official security.
Even if Harry miraculously wins the narrowly focused challenge he is now engaged in, there is no way he will ever receive full-time security in the U.K. ever again, a source tells The Daily Beast.
“Winning the case won’t restore his security,” the source said. “All it will mean is that Harry will score a technical point that the way the decision was made was wrong. The end destination can be got to again.”
Harry has made his bed; gilded exile boosting his internet influencer wife in California is his lot for now, as a bit part appearances on Markle’s Instagram make clear.
Maybe publicly trashing his entire, extremely powerful, family, no matter how much he got paid or how ghastly and biased they had been, wasn’t the smartest move?
Prince William’s football punditry impresses
If Harry seemed a sad shade of his former self in London, Prince William, by contrast, emerged with his lad-credibility hugely enhanced from an unexpected guest appearance on TNT Sports during his beloved soccer club Aston Villa’s Champions League quarter-final tie against Paris Saint-Germain.
Before the game, he gave a lengthy interview and impressed with his sharp insight, authentic passion, and impressive knowledge on camera.
A lifelong Aston Villa supporter, William delivered a rather good pre-match analysis as he broke down PSG’s “high pressing” game and praised Villa boss Unai Emery’s tactical setup. “I love the way Unai sets the team up — structured, intense, and really hard to break down,” he said. “We’ll need to stay compact but try to nick a goal. That first goal is crucial.”
Welcome to Parc des Princes, Prince William! 👋The Prince of Wales, and Aston Villa fan, joins @rioferdy5 and @Ally_McCoist9 to talk about the Villans’ Champions League clash against PSG 🗣️@KensingtonRoyal pic.twitter.com/AttIJDHxkK
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 9, 2025
The Prince also brought along his son, Prince George, for the historic night, saying, “I want George to experience a night out away from home in a big European competition.”
Villa lost 3–1 on the night, but William’s performance in the pundit’s chair left him the outright winner.
King Charles “is recovering” from cancer and “getting better,” Queen Camilla says
Buckingham Palace has remained careful and cautious when it comes to public statements about King Charles’ prognosis following his cancer diagnosis last year, but his wife, Queen Camilla, is now coming out and saying it: The king is “getting better.”
Despite what sources called a “minor bump in the road” last month when the king was briefly hospitalized (for observation only, The Royalist understands) after an adverse reaction to his ongoing, weekly treatment, at Harley Street hospital the London Clinic, the king, and his aides, seemed remarkably chipper on their trip to Italy last week.
The positive vibes extended to his wife, who gave the clearest indication yet that Charles’ prognosis is trending positive in comments to the media, saying: “He loves his work, and it keeps him going. And I think it’s wonderful, you know, if you’ve been ill and you are recovering, you’re getting better and now he wants to do more and more and more. That’s what he’s driven by, helping others.”
While the king certainly appears to have lost some weight and is careful about rationing his engagements and appearances quite, and there are some in his circle who believe the trip to Australasia last year was an unnecessary risk, few would disagree that he has appeared on terrific form in recent encounters with the public and other dignitaries (such as the convalescing Pope, who he and Camilla met this week).
Also not in doubt: that he has tackled his diagnosis with extraordinary personal bravery and courage.
A friend of the king tells The Daily Beast: “He is in a very different place now to where he was six months ago. Of course, there is an acceptance that he will have to be careful and that things could change, but fundamentally, he is brimming with optimism. It’s wonderful.”
God save the king!
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