With a royal wedding in the works, speculation is rising about the title that will be bestowed on Meghan Markle when she marries Prince Harry in the spring.
Will the American actress be a British princess? The answer is: sort of.
Markle’s future noble ranking partly depends on what titles Queen Elizabeth gives her and Harry on their wedding day.
Markle, 36, will not formally be known as Princess Meghan because she is not of royal birth. However, she will become Her Royal Highness Princess Henry of Wales when she marries Harry, whose proper first name is Henry.
The speculation is that the queen will make Harry a duke, like his brother William, and Markle a duchess when they wed at Windsor Castle. In that case, Markle would properly be known as a duchess, not a princess.
“It’s wrong to call a royal duchess ‘princess’ unless she’s already a princess,” royal historian Hugo Vickers said. “But they can do what they like. I’m sure the press will call her Princess Meghan. I just hope they don’t abbreviate it to Princess Megs.”