Back in March, the British press was obsessed with a brief exchange between the Duchess of Sussex and Mindy Kaling in an episode of With Love, Meghan. Mindy referred to Meghan by her maiden name, and Meghan corrected her, saying “I’m Sussex now.” Around the same time, Meghan told People Magazine that she considers Sussex to be her “family name,” the surname she shares with her husband and children. This issue has been raised again this week in multiple reports about Prince Harry having sought advice from his uncle, the Earl Spencer, about whether the Sussexes should change their surname to Spencer. That apparently happened in late 2022-early 2023, when Buckingham Palace likely interfered with Archie and Lili’s British passports because King Charles was dithering about whether to change the George V letters patent.

All of which to say, the Sussexes have chosen their surname and it is what it is. They had legal reasons for doing so and they probably had to alter or update many of their documents after QEII’s death. But the Brits want to have their cake and eat it too – they want to be able to constantly threaten to “strip the titles” AND they want to bitterly complain at the very idea of Harry and Meghan adopting the Spencer surname. From Richard Eden’s latest column:

In The Mail on Sunday, I disclosed that surnames ‘mean so much’ to the Duke of Sussex that he and his wife were desperate to ditch Mountbatten-Windsor. In an extraordinary example of that discomfort, Harry sought advice from Princess Diana’s brother about changing his family name to Spencer.

Sources said Prince Harry actively explored ways to assume his mother’s surname. It is understood he discussed the issue with Earl Spencer – whose family seat is Althorp in Northamptonshire – during a rare visit to Britain, but was told that the legal hurdles were insurmountable.

‘They had a very amicable conversation and Spencer advised him against taking such a step,’ a friend of Harry’s told me. Now, I can reveal that this is the reason why Harry and Meghan have started using Sussex as a surname.

‘Harry accepted his uncle’s advice that using the Spencer name would be too complicated,’ the friend says. ‘He and Meghan are now using Sussex as their family name. Their children are Archie and Lili Sussex.’

Meghan’s decision to include the exchange with Ms Kaling on her show was seen as highly significant by royal sources after it was broadcast. ‘It’s clearly a warning shot,’ one Palace insider told me at the time. They added that Meghan seemed to be making a very public point of emphasising how much the title meant to her and, by implication, to Harry. In other words, they suggested, it’s the clearest threat yet that the Royal Family should not even contemplate stripping the couple of their titles. This is a course of action that has been mooted many times since Meghan and Harry abandoned royal duties five years ago, eventually moving to California to seek their fortune.

Royal sources have suggested this sanction is very much possible should the couple spark further controversy by publishing any more tell-all books about the Windsors – as Harry did with his 2023 memoir Spare – or agreeing to more explosive interviews – such as their sit-down with chat show host Oprah Winfrey in 2021.

But the fact that Harry consulted Earl Spencer over ditching the Mountbatten-Windsor name is one of the most toxic signs yet of the rift with his father and brother. Mountbatten-Windsor is the surname available to descendants of the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. It combines the Royal Family’s name of Windsor and the Duke of Edinburgh’s adopted surname.

King Charles cherishes the Mountbatten name – just as his father did – due to the influence of his great-uncle, the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma who was assassinated by the IRA in 1979. As such, any move to ditch the name would be particularly hurtful to the King – with Harry and Meghan’s use of the Sussex name only raising the stakes in their ongoing battle with the Royal Family. If the King, or his eventual successor Prince William, were to strip the couple of their titles, the Sussexes are making it clear that it would be seen as a declaration of war.

[From The Daily Mail]

So… the royals are incandescent with rage at the thought of Harry & Meghan adopting Sussex as their surname, but they’re also enraged at the thought of H&M adopting Spencer as their surname, because how dare they reject the Sussex title given to them, how dare they reject their royal connections! Both options are seen as threats and mortal wounds to the monarchy! And if Harry and Meghan went by Mountbatten-Windsor, I’m sure these same people would be having a completely normal reaction to that as well? Or would there still be cries of “monetizing the royal name??” Honestly, I’ve wondered from time to time if Meghan dislikes the “Mountbatten-Windsor” name because it’s not aesthetically pleasing whatsoever. I have a suggestion for all of these people – stop framing everything Meghan and Harry do as related to whatever asinine conspiracy you’ve come up with this week. M&H needed a surname for legal purposes, for their documentation and their kids’ documents, and they chose Sussex. Maybe it’s as simple as that.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.