Prince William will act immediately to strip Prince Harry and Meghan Markle of their “His/Her Royal Highness” (HRH) titles once he becomes king, according to sources close to the Prince of Wales, who spoke to The Daily Beast.
One friend said Harry and Meghan’s behavior has been “absolutely vile.” They added that Harry’s unhinged BBC interview made it clear “he has no interest in reconciling.”
“If he did, a period of silence would have been the right thing to do. The HRHs will go,” the friend said.
Although such a dramatic move by William has reportedly been under consideration for some time, a former courtier said it has “gained renewed urgency” following Harry’s Friday interview, which left the royal family stunned and frustrated.
In the chat, Harry expressed doubts over King Charles’ health, saying he didn’t know “how long” his father had left to live.
Sources close to the king have been widely quoted in British media saying that Harry’s comment was in “very poor taste,” especially considering the optimistic note the monarch has sought to strike amidst Charles’ ongoing cancer treatment.
Despite the offense to His Majesty, insiders believe Charles is unlikely to take any further action against his younger son and daughter-in-law, preferring to avoid deepening the family rift.
Prince William, however, has a different view.
The former courtier told The Daily Beast that William now believes Harry and Meghan must be “completely cut off” from the Royal institution. They described the couple as “loose ends” that William is determined to “tidy up by snipping off” once he ascends the throne.
The former courtier added: “He has no direct contact with Harry anymore, so it will be a clean break. And the chaos of a royal succession is always a good moment to make decisive changes. It will be among the first things he will do.”
The courtier made it clear that Harry and Meghan are likely to lose their HRH styles, which is simply a matter of royal decree. However, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles would remain intact, not least because the mechanism for stripping them of those titles would require Parliamentary action, a politically fraught prospect.
Norman Baker, a former government minister who has written extensively on royal and constitutional matters, previously told the Daily Beast, “I have little doubt that as the bestowing of an HRH is in the gift of the monarch, the monarch could remove the HRH title. It would basically be the equivalent to an executive order in the U.S.”
Baker added, “It was a mistake to not simply take it away at the time. People didn’t want to up the ante and cause problems, so it was smudged over—as so many things in the U.K. are—but as we can now see, it would have been useful to have had that clarity.”
The couple agreed not to use their HRH styles after stepping back from royal duties in 2020, but they technically retain the titles. Meghan has recently started publicly using the HRH style again.
The issue was highlighted by the Daily Beast two weeks ago after Meghan published a letter she received, addressing her as “Your Royal Highness.”
A Meghan source said at the time: “Harry and Meghan retain their HRH titles; however, by agreement, they do not use them for commercial purposes. While they do not publicly use ‘HRH,’ this was a personal gift, and their titles remain.”
However the published agreement simply said that Meghan and Harry would stop using the tiles altogether, not only in a commercial context.
The statement, which can still be seen on the official royal website, reads: “The Sussexes will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the Royal Family.”
Prince Harry could have been a powerful force for good—now he’s just a cautionary tale
Watching Prince Harry’s BBC interview, it was difficult to believe that this was the same man who was, until just five years ago, a consequential voice in global environmental advocacy and philanthropic leadership. For years, he was a leading campaigner on issues like conservation and mental health, and, together with Meghan, he had the potential to do real, tangible good. Instead, Harry appeared to be a significantly diminished figure.
The whole thing was shocking to witness—not just because of the tone, but because of the astonishing naivety on display. Harry genuinely seemed to believe that he could go to war with the entire British establishment, from the Palace to the government, and somehow emerge victorious.
Typically, one person you don’t want to pick a fight with is the king. That’s just not an adversary you’re going to beat, not when the institution is so embedded in the fabric of the state.
The interview itself was a mess, riddled with contradictions and misplaced delusions of his own importance.
At one point, Harry claimed he had “forgiven” his family. Moments later, he was simmering with rage, complaining bitterly about his security arrangements and implying that the monarchy was colluding against him and that some people wanted him dead. He said he wanted reconciliation while claiming that he wouldn’t bring his children to the U.K. because it wasn’t “safe.”
Frankly, it beggars belief that Harry couldn’t find a secure way to visit his home country if he actually wanted to. It seems more likely that he’s backed himself into a corner, boxed in by a narrative he can’t now escape without looking weak. It’s a very Windsor trait, of course: pride so entrenched it becomes its own trap.
And who the hell is doing media strategy for Harry? No one, by the looks of things—or at least no one prepared to say, “Maybe not, sir.”
Friday may have been one of the worst days of his life. He had just suffered a humiliating court loss—estimated to be costing him upwards of $2 million.
And yet, on that very day, he decided it was a good idea to put himself in front of a BBC camera. The result was exactly what you’d expect: a visibly upset, defensive man oscillating between tears and fury. The idea, presumably, was to get his narrative out there. Yet it looked impulsive, badly timed, and catastrophically misjudged.
More than anything, the interview showed a man whose message is now so confused and muddled that it’s hard to know what he wants anymore, beside motorcycle outriders waiting for him at Heathrow Airport.
Does he want peace with his family or does he want revenge? Has he accepted defeat, or is he still plotting legal retribution? He says he’s moved on, but still drags the same old grievances into every public appearance.
The emotional instability was palpable—like a souped-up, raw version of the tone of his memoir, Spare, which often read like a therapy transcript turned into a royal tell-all. Remember, this is the man who admitted to being hurt because his brother got the bigger bedroom as a child and the nicer house as an adult.
That isn’t the voice of someone ready to lead; it’s the voice of someone stuck in childhood hurt.
Yes, it could be true that Harry has been treated very unfairly. The fact that a prime minister who served just 44 days receives lifetime security while he does not is absurd.
But to have not anticipated this outcome—to have carried on in such a bull-headed fashion, demanding terms he was never going to get—is a graphic display of the lack of realism that has defined Harry’s trajectory for the last five years.
What we’re witnessing now is not the rebellion of a bold prince, but the slow, painful decline of someone who could have been something truly remarkable.
He had global visibility, access to unrivaled networks, and public goodwill by the boatload. He was well-placed to be a voice for progress and change.
But that platform has been squandered—through impatience, through poor advice, through ego, and perhaps most tragically, through deep unresolved trauma.
The reaction to Friday’s interview said it all. Where once every Harry and Meghan bombshell would dominate the headlines for days, this one barely made a ripple outside the U.K.
People are tired of hearing a man with extraordinary privilege, wealth, and a mansion in California, complain endlessly about how unfair life has been.
And so Harry now finds himself in a strange royal purgatory—no longer a working royal, sort of a celebrity, increasingly irrelevant. He’s starting to resemble a bizarre hybrid of Prince Andrew and Edward VIII: men who, having spurned duty and tradition, found themselves isolated, stuck, and increasingly defined by bitterness and regret.
In the end, Harry will likely be remembered not for his potential, but for how he squandered it—an enormous tragedy of a man who could have been anything had he only been able to get out of his own way.
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