I was reading an article today in Cosmo where they inaccurately stated Meghan Markle is not a princess. She, in fact, is. But it's a little confusing because she isn't to be known as simply "Princess Meghan".
Officially she will be known as the Duchess of Sussex, but she is also known as Her Royal Highness Princess Henry of Wales. Yes, that makes her a princess by marriage or a "princess consort".
So why isn't she simply Princess Meghan? This is due to rules governing the British crown, only those born into the royal family can use the title Prince or Princess, followed by their first name.
This same rule affected Prince Harry's own mother. While in America we may have called her Princess Diana, that actually wasn't accurate and was only given the title Princess of Wales as a courtesy title, since she was the wife of the Prince of Wales — but she was never formally referred to as Princess Diana for the same reason. At least not in the UK. But in America, everyone just called her Princess Diana. But in the UK, that apparently wasn't the case. Her official title was Her Royal Highness, Diana, Princess of Wales.
As far as Megahn Markle goes, the Queen bestowed the couple a Dukedom before their wedding -- making Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The is similar to the way Kate Middleton became the Duchess of Cambridge when she married Prince William.
To confuse matters even more, the royal family doesn't typically use last names however there are some situations when a surname is needed. So what would her last name be?
All children of Queen Elizabeth have the last name of Mounbatten-Windsor, although as royals they aren't required to have one. So Prince Charles could use the name Charles Mounbatten-Windsor if he so feels a need.
King George was the first royal to use a last name, which was Windsor. When the Queen married Prince Philip she added his name in with hers to make her offspring Mounbatten-Windsor.
However there is also a rule that allows them to use the territory they rule over as a last name and since Prince William and Harry's parents were the Prince and Princess of Wales, they were known in school as William and Harry Wales.
While it can be confusing, experts seem to agree that officially her name would be Meghan Mounbatten-Windsor.
So to summarize, Meghan Markle is now officially known by the following names ...
- Meghan Mounbatten-Windsor
- Her Royal Highness, Princess Henry of Wales
- Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Sussex
- Her Royal Highness, the Countess of Dumbarton
- Her Royal Highness, the Baroness Kilkeel
She will most likely follow what Kate Middleton has done and go by her Duchess title, so she'll be Her Royal Highess, Megahn, the Duchess of Sussex, except when in Scotland she will be the Countess of Dumbarton and while in Ireland, he Baroness Kilkeel.