Chris Jackson/Getty Images(LONDON) — Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, will potentially have to make one more big change as they chart their futures as non-working members of Britain’s royal family.
Harry and Meghan may have to drop the word “royal” from their Sussex Royal brand when they begin their new roles outside the royal family this spring.
Discussions about the branding are “still ongoing” between the couple, Queen Elizabeth and senior officials, a royal source told ABC News. The source added, though, that asking Harry and Meghan to remove “royal” is the “likely direction” the talks are heading.
Buckingham Palace has not commented.
“Although this may seem personal against Harry and Meghan it simply boils down to royal protocol,” ABC News royal contributor Omid Scobie told Good Morning America. “As non-working members of the royal family it means that they can’t use the word royal in any of their work moving forward.”
The palace announced in January that Harry and Meghan will start this spring on the “next chapter of their lives” in which they are no longer “working members” of Britain’s royal family.
The couple’s new roles mean they will no longer use their HRH titles, will no longer represent Her Majesty and will no longer receive public funds for royal duties, although they continue to receive funds from Harry’s father, Prince Charles.
Harry and Meghan, who are currently living in Canada with their infant son, Archie, will also spend the majority of their time in North America, according to Buckingham Palace.
The Sussex Royal label has been seen as potentially extremely lucrative for Harry and Meghan.
The couple hit one million followers on Instagram less than six hours after launching their Sussex Royal Instagram account last year. When they announced in January their intention to “step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family,” Harry and Meghan simultaneously launched their own SussexRoyal.com website.
They also have plans to launch a Sussex Royal charitable foundation and applied last year to trademark the Sussex Royal name, reportedly to prevent others from cashing in on their name.
“For Harry and Meghan, this new chapter involved them using the Sussex Royal brand,” said Scobie. “Of course now they’re back to the drawing board in having to re-brand a project they’re very close to launching.”
In recent weeks, Harry and Meghan traveled to Miami to attend an event hosted by JPMorgan, the U.S.-headquartered global financial services firm, where they rubbed shoulders with billionaires and celebrities.
The couple, who are planning to close their Buckingham Palace office, also traveled to San Francisco and visited Stanford University last week for a brainstorm session and meetings with professors and academics as they lay the groundwork for their new charitable foundation, a source close to the Sussexes confirmed to ABC News.
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