Almost all of the “royal titles” given at birth or marriage are derived from old dukedoms, earldoms and the like. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of titles which are currently in abeyance (meaning, in suspended use) which are “property of the monarchy” in some way, shape or form. Prince Edward is currently the Duke of Edinburgh, but technically, King Charles became the DoE when his parents died, and he only “gave” it to Edward as a birthday present. The title wasn’t bestowed by the city of Edinburgh, nor is the title contingent upon Edward’s popularity in Scotland, nor is the title contingent upon a certain number of visits to Scotland. Well, if you can believe it, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not visit the English county of Sussex for the annual “Sussex Day” this week. They didn’t visit because A) they weren’t invited, B) they wouldn’t have had royal protection if they did visit and C) they’ve lived in America for the past five and a half years. Well, the county of Sussex is incandescent with rage!
Meghan recently admonished a celebrity friend on her new Netflix show claiming her surname is now Sussex not Markle. But the former Suits star and her husband are under fire back in the UK after being accused of failing to show due respect to the county they derive their title from.
Meghan is the first Duchess of Sussex in history and Prince Harry is only the second ever Duke of Sussex – but only visited together once in 2018, for six hours. And yesterday, as the southern county celebrated Sussex Day, the annual celebration of Sussex’s rich history and culture, there was silence from Montecito. Instead Meghan revealed the release date for her new As Ever products and hours earlier Harry demonstrated his command of the German language in a video message to mark Germany’s first ever Veterans Day.
Former Sussex MP Tim Loughton told MailOnline today that the couple have yet again failed to show respect to Sussex – and have ‘no interest’ in it – so should be stripped of the title.
‘Yet again the interest of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in the county from which they continue to use their title has been underwhelming to say the least’, he said. ‘It is time we had a Duke of Sussex who has a genuine interest in our County and wishing Sussex residents a happy Sussex Day is hardly a tall order. They rarely visited Sussex even before they abandoned the UK for California and on our County Day today they have again shown no interest in Sussex’.
Meghan and Harry were handed the dukedom of Sussex on the day of their wedding in May 2018 by the late Queen Elizabeth II. The couple were cheered on the streets of Chichester, Bognor Regis, Brighton and Peacehaven during a packed day of engagements when they visited in October 2018. That was the only time they visited together with Meghan spending around six hours there in her entire royal life.
“It is time we had a Duke of Sussex who has a genuine interest in our County”??? Again, this is not an elected position. It’s not like Harry is doing a bad job at being “Duke of Sussex” and he can be replaced or voted out. That’s not the way any of this works. I actually looked up a list of titles in abeyance, meaning unused titles which the monarch could technically “give” to anyone in the royal family – you don’t see anyone in Leeds crying about how there’s no Duke of Leeds right now, same the ducal titles of Clarence, Dorset, Bridgewater, Southampton, Portland, Cleveland and on and on. Sussex was a title which had not been in use since the 1840s when QEII dusted it off and gave it to Harry and Meghan. All of which to say, these people are running out of ways to throw tantrums about Harry and Meghan’s titles and their adopted surname. Unclench, for the love of God.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
