Exclusive Insight: The Surprising Reason Behind the Royal Website's Update on Prince Harry's Title - Revealed by a Renowned Expert

The royal family caused a stir when they removed Prince Harry's HRH title from their website, almost three years after he stepped down. However, one royal expert believes that it's not a major issue. "The website is poorly managed," Gareth Russell stated exclusively to We on Thursday, August 10. He noted that the website is maintained by staff members, not by actual members of the royal family. "Just like the president of the U.S. doesn't personally update the presidential website, the royals don't personally update theirs either."

Russell, author of the upcoming book The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of British History at Hampton Court, mentioned that the royal website contains a vast amount of pages, making it difficult to keep track of which ones require updating. He pointed out that there are still some parts referring to Queen Elizabeth II in the present tense, urging for those areas to be addressed. Russell believes that the process of updating the website is ongoing and not a deliberate oversight towards Prince Harry. He also mentioned that both the Sussexes and Buckingham Palace currently do not show an inclination towards engaging in verbal attacks or trading insults.

Prince Harry. NEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Harry's website page underwent modifications earlier this month following a report by U.K.'s Express revealing that the Duke of Sussex, aged 38, was still depicted as "HRH" in his biography. (The page retains an embedded tweet utilizing the HRH designation.)

In January 2020, when Harry and his spouse, Meghan Markle, declared their decision to step down as senior members of the royal family, Buckingham Palace declared that the couple were unable to employ their HRH titles due to their altered status as non-working members of the Royal Family.

Russell also mentioned that the website recently updated the pages about Harry and Meghan's children, Archie, 4, and Lilibet, 2. The site now refers to them as Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, not just removing the HRH titles but also acknowledging their proper titles.

Archie and Lilibet did not have titles until King Charles III, Harry's father, became king in September 2022 after Elizabeth's passing. In 1917, King George V decreed that royal titles should be given to the children of the monarch's sons.

Prince William, Princess Charlotte, King Charles III, Queen Camilla. James Veysey/Shutterstock

The decree was amended by the late queen in 2012 to also encompass the grandchildren of her grandson Prince William. It is for this reason that Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, the children of Prince William and Princess Kate, have royal titles. However, this amendment did not extend to any children that Prince Harry might have in the future, as it exclusively applied to the offspring of the future king. Currently, William, aged 41, stands as the next in line for the monarchy, whereas Harry holds the fifth position.