With their latest rebrand since leaving royal duties, California-based Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have amped up their feudal-sounding association with Sussex, a region of Britain they may never visit, given their estrangement from Harry’s family and native country.
By launching a new website, Sussex.com, the couple also revealed that they have adopted the Sussex surname for their children, Archie and Lilibet, though the youngsters, 4 and 2, were given the family surname Mountbatten-Windsor when they were born, according to the Times of London.
The website – representing the “The Office of Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex” – was launched to bring the couple’s various charitable and commercial endeavors, as well as their children’s new identities, “under one umbrella,” The Times reported. The site also is festooned with the coat of arms created for Meghan when she married Harry and became a senior working member of the royal family.
Not surprisingly, Harry and Meghan have sparked new controversy with Sussex.com. The aspiring media moguls face accusations that they betrayed a promise they made to the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2020 to stop using another Sussex brand, “Sussex Royal.” They also face criticism that they still need to capitalize on their royal associations to stay relevant and marketable.
Moreover, Harry and Meghan’s new way of asserting their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles, which the late queen gave them when they married, has annoyed some people in the Sussex area. For these residents, it’s almost as if the couple are assuming a titular dominion in a country they left behind for America, while their actions shine a spotlight on the strange and antiquated nature of royal titles.
“Why would they want to be called the Duke and Duchess of Sussex when they are in America?” asked Hilary Owen in an interview with the Daily Mail. The retired teacher has lived in Chichester, a city in West Sussex, for 40 years. West Sussex is one of two counties that make up the historic Sussex region on the southern coast of England.
“They’re just cashing in on the royal emblem,” Owen continued. “They should just cut ties and be done with it. Enjoy their lives out there with their children, just don’t hang on to the royal connection.”
“They’re money-grabbers, that’s why they went to America,” another Chichester resident, Michael Lee, told the Daily Mail. “To make money … out of the fact they are royals — it goes down well in America doesn’t it?”
In the comments for another Times of London article about Sussex.com, someone wrote: “As a resident of Sussex I just want him to be ‘de-duked.’” Another self-described Sussex resident said: “I’ll second that! I think they visited once, and I’m pretty sure (Meghan) still has no idea where Sussex actually is.”
Of course, Harry and Meghan are officially known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the royal family website. They also are routinely referred to as “the Sussexes” on second reference in news and entertainment stories.
But there’s a floating nature to the surnames of royal family members. As the son of King Charles III, who formerly was the Prince of Wales, Harry went by the last name Wales when in school and in the military. But according to protocol explained on the royal family website, Harry’s official surname is Mountbatten-Windsor, as are descendants of Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip.
Archie and Lilibet also were given the Mountbatten-Windsor surname on their birth certificates, though they became known as Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex after Charles became king. The Times also reported that Harry and Meghan adopted the Sussex surname for their children after Charles’ coronation.
The title, Duke of Sussex, is a ceremonial dukedom in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The title harks back to the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Sussex and to the centuries when kings and princes were known by the names of the counties over which they and their families ruled. The Duke of Sussex title was first created in 1801 when King George III bestowed it on one of his sons, then revived in 2018 when Elizabeth II gifted it to Harry.
Even before Harry and Meghan’s Sussex row, the use of geographic places in royal titles has sometimes been controversial, notably in regards to the Prince of Wales title. Prince of Wales has been given to the heir apparent to the English throne since the early 1300s. But the 1969 investiture of King Charles III as the Prince of Wales faced widespread opposition from Welsh nationalist organizations.
In fact, a 2019 episode of “The Crown” was devoted to the semester Charles spent in Wales, immersing himself in Welsh culture and learning the language before his investiture. His son, Prince William, hasn’t shown a similar application, according to reports. The new Prince of Wales is known to only have picked up a few “bits and pieces” of Welsh over the years, The Telegraph reported.
It’s possible that Harry visited West or East Sussex at some point. But it’s not immediately known if Meghan ever visited the region after marrying Harry. The couple were known to spend most of their time in the U.K. in London, at a country home in the Cotswolds or at Frogmore Cottage, which is in Berkshire County.
When Harry and Meghan left royal duties in 2020, they agreed to no longer use the “Sussex Royal” for their charitable work, website or social media branding. They instead relaunched themselves under the Archewell brand, creating the Archewell Foundation for their philanthropic work and Archewell Productions to handle their film, streaming and podcast projects.
The new Sussex.com website features bios for Harry and Meghan, as well as links to sites for Archewell Foundation and Archewell Productions. It also shares news about the couple’s latest activities, including their royal tour-like visit to Canada this week to celebrate preparations for the 2025 Invictus Games, and Meghan’s new deal to produce podcasts with Lemonada Media.
Amid the controversy, people in the U.K. are asking whether Charles should take legal action against the couple’s potential commercialization of a royal title. There also are renewed calls for Charles to strip his son and daughter-in-law of their titles. Similar calls arose among British lawmakers and members of the media when Harry and Meghan used their lucrative book and Netflix docuseries projects to criticize the monarchy or reveal alleged bad behavior by certain members.
As British titles go, it is within Charles’ power to remove the duke and duchess titles, as they were a gift from his late mother, the Times of London reported in December. However, Charles cannot take away Harry’s prince title or remove him from the line of succession; such a move would require an act of Parliament.
But if Charles were to remove the Sussex titles, Harry could still call himself Prince Harry and Meghan, thereafter, would be entitled to call herself Princess Henry.