Why Prince Harry And Meghan Markle’s Son Archie Won't Be Called An Earl

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle introduced their royal baby to the world Wednesday last week. Their baby, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, could have taken Prince Harry’s title and been named Earl of Dumbarton, but his parents were both against it. Instead, they want him called Master Archie Harrison.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to not let their son adopt the title of “Earl” has been a bone of contention among the followers of the royal family, but the royal couple has a good reason for choosing “Master” over “Earl.”

Even before Meghan gave birth to Baby Archie in the morning of May 6, she and Prince Harry had already agreed to raise their child as a private citizen. The royal couple already had plans for Archie’s future before he was even born, and one of those plans is to raise him outside of the royal sphere.

Prince Harry and Meghan’s decision to forgo a title for their son is meant to shield Master Archie from the royal limelight. Although he is the first son of a Duke, Archie will not adopt any of Prince Harry’s subsidiary titles like Earl or Lord because the Duke and Duchess of Sussex want him to be different from his cousins Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, whose lives are always under the scrutiny of the public eye.

Since Master Archie will neither be called an Earl or a Lord, he will also forgo the style “His Royal Highness.” According to a source close to Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex is taking full responsibility for his and his wife’s decision to raise their son that way. “As Archie is not an HRH, Harry feels he has every right to strictly police his son’s privacy,” the source revealed.

Although the new royal baby will forgo the royal title for now, he has the choice to take on the title of a duke when the right time comes. And while Prince Harry and Meghan want to protect their son from the royal spotlight, they plan to take Master Archie to his first official foreign tour to Africa in October.