Nearly half of Brits think Harry and Meghan should lose royal titles, poll reveals

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Nearly half of Britons think Prince Harry and Meghan Markle should lose their royal titles with one in five saying they should stop using them, according to a poll by YouGov.

Harry and Meghan were given the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex on their wedding day by the Queen, and continue to go by them since stepping back as senior members of the Royal Family.

The use of their titles has been criticised by some commentators in the UK, and it appears the frustration is felt among the public now as a YouGov poll found most people think they should either be stripped of their titles or stop using them.

The day before their third wedding anniversary, a poll of more than 4,500 Britons found 44% thought they should be stripped of their titles, and 20% said they should keep them but not use them.

Only 17% said they should not lose them or stop using them, with 20% saying they did not know.

The issue was largely split across age groups, with 59% of over-65s saying they should lose their titles, compared to 20% of those aged 18-24.

The younger age groups had the highest percentage of people saying things should stay as they are now, with 27% backing the couple to keep using their titles.

Read more: How are royals removed from the line of succession?

Only 9% of those over 65 thought they should keep using the duke and duchess titles.

Prince Harry, 36, can't be stripped of his title of prince, and it's unlikely the Queen, 95, would remove the duchy titles.

She did remove some of their royal patronages and Harry's honorary military titles when they stepped back as working royals.

Professor Kate Williams, an historian, pointed out on Twitter: "Harry’s title of Prince cannot be removed. Thus if they were no longer Duke and Duchess, they’d be Prince and Princess. Which would, one might argue, be even more appealing on the world stage..

"Meghan’s title would be Princess Henry of Wales. That is her title through marriage but she does not use it now due to the Sussex titles. But if the Sussex titles removed, she would be quickly called in general speech Princess Meghan or indeed Princess Meghan of Wales.

"Removing the Sussex titles is v complex, would need to go through Parliament (and gov is v reluctant to get involved), would look v v bad considering all the others who kept theirs and would totally backfire as Harry and Meghan would be then addressed as Prince and Princess."

There have previously been calls for Harry to lose his place in the line of succession, another complicated matter which involves parliament.

Read more: Who gets security in the Royal Family?

Harry and Meghan, 39, agreed to stop using the HRH prefix when they stepped back, but that has not formally been removed.

When Diana and Charles divorced, the Queen stripped Diana of her HRH, meaning she no longer had royal protection. She was still the Princess of Wales.

That became a topic of contention after her death, with claims she would not have been in the car chase in Paris had she still had royal security.

Harry and Meghan don't have security paid for via the Royal Family because they don't carry out duties, and the situation around security has changed since Diana's death.

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