bitchy | King Charles likely won’t ‘punish’ the Sussexes until after his coronation

King Charles was out and about in London today, doing an event for “Christian communities in King’s Cross.” Reportedly, one of the royal rota (Richard Palmer) asked if Charles had seen Netflix’s Harry & Meghan, and Charles “sidestepped the question.” It safe to say that the Windsors and the British media had hyped themselves up into an enraged lather ahead of the Netflix series and, as always, they were doing way too much and telling on themselves. Just ahead of the release of the docuseries, the Daily Beast’s Royalist column did a piece on how King Charles will eventually punish Harry and Meghan. What’s he going to do? They literally live in America, make their own money and pay for their own security. The only left to “take” from them is their titles. So that’s probably what will happen, but it will only happen after Charles’s coronation next year:

King Charles could strip Meghan Markle and Prince Harry of their princely titles if they continue to make incendiary allegations against the royal family, but is essentially powerless to remove their duke and duchess honorifics, a well-placed source told The Daily Beast Wednesday, as temperatures rose ahead of the launch of the couple’s Netflix series on Thursday.

The monarch is understood to have the power to stop Harry from using the title “prince,” meaning Meghan would also lose her status as a princess (although given Meghan rarely uses her “princess” style this would not be much of a punishment). The model for any forfeiture could be based on how the late queen approached the matter when the couple were simply asked to stop using their HRH (His or Her Royal Highness) titles. They were also asked not to use the word “royal” in any commercial branding—and, somewhat grudgingly, agreed to both requests.

The source said: “Charles will be very cautious of repeating the mistakes made with Diana. When she was stripped of her HRH after the divorce, it fed into her narrative that the palace was a vindictive and cruel establishment. Imagine if they did something similar to Harry. He would be able to go on Oprah all over again and say, ‘They did it to my mother and now they are doing it to me.’ It would completely play into their victim narrative.”

The source added that while, theoretically, steps could be taken by the monarch to get Parliament to formally strip Harry and Meghan of their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles, to do so would open up a “Pandora’s box” of problems.

The Daily Beast’s source, who is not a palace staffer but has acted as an informal adviser to the royals for several years, said that the palace will move slowly and cautiously, and is unlikely to move against the couple to remove their princely titles in the heat of the moment, instead adopting a “wait and see” approach.

“Nothing is going to happen before the Coronation anyway,” the source said. Charles’ coronation is scheduled for May next year. The palace, which did not respond to requests for comment by The Daily Beast for this story, has not confirmed if Harry and Meghan will attend. However, they are still generally expected to be invited despite the conflict in the family. The source said the couple are unlikely to be told to stop using their “duke” and “duchess” titles, as these can only be legally removed by an Act of Parliament.

[From The Daily Beast]

So basically, next June, we can expect the newly coronated King Charles to make a series of announcements regarding the Sussexes, not just about their HRHs (which they still “have” but aren’t allowed to use), but their Sussex ducal titles and Harry’s prince title. Charles will also “make the decision” about whether or not to remove Lili and Archie’s titles, since they technically are Prince Archie and Princess Lili right now, as grandchildren of the monarch. That’s literally all Charles has left, this petty title stuff and empty threats. Is this your king?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.