In the now-infamous Oprah interview, the Duchess of Sussex told Oprah that while she was pregnant with Archie, there were conversations around her pregnancy and the idea of Harry and Meghan’s children and whether they would have titles. Once Archie was born, we were told repeatedly that Meghan and Harry chose not to give him a title, although I have my doubts (still, to this day) about whether M&H had a choice in the matter. In any case, Meghan told Oprah that the conversation was about when Charles became king, he would change the Letters Patent to deny the Sussex children their prince and princess titles, the birthright of the grandchildren of the sovereign. Meghan was torn to shreds about it in (guess what) the British media. Months later, the Daily Mail reported just that, that Charles had the intention of stripping royal titles from Harry’s children when he’s king.

Now that King Charles III is on the throne, the royal.gov website got updated in a hurry, and of course they updated the line of succession, which can be viewed online too. Remember how it took them more than SEVEN WEEKS to add Lilibet Diana to the online line of succession in 2021? Yeah, they manage to update that thing pretty quickly when it doesn’t involve the first mixed-race daughter of a prince of the realm. Well, in any case, “the Duke of Sussex” is listed (meaning, Harry still officially has his Sussex ducal title), but Lilibet and Archie are not given the courtesy of prince/princess.

Tell me again how King Charles III wants to lead the commonwealth and increasingly diverse Britain. Tell me again how no one in the all-white inner sanctum of King Charles III has considered the idea that making a big public show of denying royal titles to his mixed-race grandchildren looks completely awful, bigoted and racist. And just like the announcement of the Prince and Princess of Wales, it’s not necessary to have this stuff settled immediately. While Charles “intends” to change the Letters Patent, he hasn’t done it yet! He could have chosen a kinder, gentler, more diplomatic route for now and then a year from now, or whenever, he could have said “on second thought, here’s a new Letter Patent and here are the reasons why it’s not racist.”

Photos courtesy of Misan Harriman, Avalon Red, Sussex Royal, Harpo, Instar.