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Council will debate stripping Meghan Markle, Prince Harry of royal titles: 'Morally wrong'

Council will debate stripping Meghan Markle, Prince Harry of royal titles: 'Morally wrong'

A council is set to debate the future of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal titles on Thursday, Dec. 19., after a petition calling for their removal received thousands of signatures.

The petition was launched on the Brighton & Hove City Council website by Charles Ross on July 1 and argues that the titles the Duke and Duchess of Sussex received from Queen Elizabeth on their wedding day were "arbitrarily and unfairly acquired" and thus should be omitted.

The petition writes:

"We the undersigned petition Brighton & Hove Council to reject the usage of the titles "Duke of Sussex" and "Duchess of Sussex" by the individuals Henry ("Harry") Windsor and Rachel Meghan Markle as morally wrong and disrespectful to the county of East Sussex. As residents of Brighton and Hove we call on Brighton and Hove Council to not refer to these individuals by such titles which we believe to be entirely non democratic and symbolic of the oppression of the general public by the wealthy elite. Neither will Brighton Council invite or entertain these individuals nor afford them any hospitality or courtesies above and beyond that of an ordinary member of the public.

The petition aims to establish a precedent that Brighton and Hove Council will no longer afford official hospitality to those with Royal or aristocratic titles nor make usage of those titles in official documents as these titles are arbitrarily and unfairly acquired."

The petition, signed by 3,881 people, was closed on Dec. 18 and will be presented to the Brighton & Hove council Thursday.

While reports maintain that Her Majesty is the only one who could actually strip the couple of their titles, there still has been considerable backlash against the document.

"Such a petition shows utter disdain and contempt for The Crown, not to mention copious amounts of disrespect to, and for, the Royal family which undertakes thousands of engagements per year on behalf of the nation, in right of Her Majesty as The Crown," said Thomas Mace-Archer-Mills, founder of the British Monarchists Society.