Prince Harry and Meghan Markle feared King Charles ‘blocked’ passports for Archie and Lilibet over use of Sussex name and HRH titles

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex feared King Charles had “blocked” their attempts at getting new passports for their two children over the use of their HRH titles and Sussex name.

Prince Harry and Meghan had applied for new travel documents for Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, using the surname Sussex for the first time along with their royal honorific.

After a six-month delay, an exasperated Prince Harry approached his uncle Earl Spencer to discuss the possibility of using the Spencer name, instead of Sussex, if the application was blocked.

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A source close to the Sussexes told The Guardian: “There was clear reluctance to issue passports for the kids”.

The source claimed “the King hadn’t wanted Archie and Lili to carry the titles, most of all the HRH, and the British passports, once created, would be the first and perhaps the only legal proof of their names”.

Prince Harry went to Princess Diana’s brother out of “sheer exasperation” to discuss changing the surname to Spencer instead.

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Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four, had previously used Mountbatten-Windsor as their last name.

The new passports would see them referred to by the Sussex name for the first time, officially.

And as grandchildren of the monarch, the children would usually be styled as His Royal Highness and Her Royal Highness.

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But when Prince Harry and Meghan stepped back as senior working royals in 2020, they made an agreement with the late Queen Elizabeth II to stop using the HRH prefix “out of respect”.

They are said to have interpreted that agreement differently from the royal household, believing they agreed not to use the titles for commercial purposes, choosing to use HRH in private only.

Recently, a thank you note from Meghan sent to a friend revealed she was using the HRH styling, with sources close to the couple indicating the duke and duchess had been referring to themselves as HRH on private letters, gifts and invitations and when they travelled.

Prince Harry and Meghan never lost their titles when they stepped back, rather they are in abeyance.

When asked about Prince Harry’s claim the King was delaying the issuing of the new passports due to the Sussex name and HRH references, Buckingham Palace strongly denied it and said “no”, The Telegraph UK reports.

While the standard wait time for a passport is three weeks, Archie and Lilibet’s still had not come after three months.

The delay was attributed to “technical issues”, with Harry and Meghan then reapplying using the 24-hour passport service.

Their meeting was then cancelled at the last minute due to a “systems failure”.

The passports were eventually issued soon after lawyers for the Sussexes sent a letter threatening to pursue a data subject access request.

Such documents could have revealed details of the delays and the nature of any behind-the-scenes discussions between British officials, the Telegraph reports.

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According to the source: “Harry was at a point where British passports for his children with their updated Sussex surnames (since the death of Elizabeth II) were being blocked with a string of excuses over the course of five months.

“Out of sheer exasperation he went to his uncle to effectively say: ‘My family are supposed to have the same name and they’re stopping that from happening because the kids are legally HRH, so if push comes to shove, if this blows up and they won’t let the kids be called Sussex, then can we use Spencer as a surname?'”

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