It’s in the air this week, the “let’s remove the Sussexes’ titles” story. Dick Fitzwilliams already talked about how Prince William will “remove titles” when he’s Scooter King. And now this: the Mail’s Richard Eden devoted his Mail column to the subject of Prince Harry and Meghan’s titles. Eden is a day late and a dollar short though, because the crux of his argument is that King Charles should do what Denmark’s Queen Margrethe did in September 2022, which was remove royal titles from her “spare” and the spare’s children. Like, there was a whole-ass conversation about all of this in 2022. Not only that, but it was widely assumed that Margrethe did all of that because she saw the messiness of the Windsor clan. Her move happened right after QEII’s funeral, and it was said that Margrethe wanted to get her succession in order after witnessing the Windsor Shambles.

The Royal Family have always seemed to me to have a slightly condescending attitude to their continental cousins. While European monarchs have regularly travelled to this country for big occasions such as royal weddings, ours haven’t always returned the compliment. More often than not, it’s been Prince Edward who’s been dispatched to a royal wedding overseas rather than our monarch or even our heir to the throne.

The so-called ‘bicycling monarchies’ of Scandinavia have frequently been the subject of mockery when contrasted with our ‘proper’ monarchy with its horse-drawn carriages, numerous palaces and all the pomp and circumstance you could want. But, as I researched the latest edition of my YouTube show Eden’s Royals, what struck me most was how King Charles could learn a thing or two from some of the foreign monarchies.

This week, I focused on the Danish royal family, who have much in common with our own. While Queen Elizabeth II reigned for a record-breaking 70 years, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, her third cousin, was a similarly respected figure who was on the throne for 52 years. Unlike Queen Elizabeth, Margrethe did not reign until her death. Instead, she announced her abdication at the age of 83 in a speech televised to the nation on New Year’s Eve in 2023. It was the first time in nearly 900 years that a Danish sovereign had voluntarily stepped down to make room for a younger generation of royals and came as a major shock because Margrethe had always insisted that her job was for life.

In September 2022, she announced that the children of her younger son, Prince Joachim, would no longer be styled as ‘prince’ or ‘princess’ from the following year onwards. The dramatic decision affected four of her grandchildren: Prince Nikolai, Prince Felix, Prince Henrik and Princess Athena. The children would still be able to use the titles of counts and countess of Monpezat, but would be addressed as ‘excellencies’ rather than ‘majesties’.

Margrethe said she wanted to ‘create the framework for the four grandchildren to be able to shape their own lives to a much greater extent without being limited by the special considerations and duties that a formal affiliation with the Royal House of Denmark as an institution involves’. Prince Joachim, who had not been involved in any great controversies, was furious.

Margrethe’s decisive action is in stark contrast to the absence of any moves by King Charles against his younger son. Unlike Prince Joachim, Prince Harry has abandoned public duties, repeatedly attacked his family and undermined the monarchy. Yet he and his wife have been allowed to keep the Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles that Queen Elizabeth gave them because they were working royals. Harry has even been allowed to remain as a Counsellor of State, legally entitling him to stand in for the King, at least in theory. Not only have Harry and Meghan been allowed to keep their titles, but their children remain Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

All this is a huge boost to the Sussexes as they try to claw back the automatic, 24-hour police protection which they lost when they moved overseas. After all, why would the Government want to deny them of something they so desperately want when the King allows them to keep all their perks? It’s time for the King to follow the example of his Danish counterpart and take action which will undoubtedly upset his younger son but will benefit the monarchy and the country.

[From The Daily Mail]

Again, this was already discussed ad nauseam in 2022. There were even stories about King Charles “watching” the Danes’ situation carefully. Still, Eden wants to talk about it, so let’s talk about it. There are some other big differences which Eden fails to mention, like the fact that Prince Joachim and his brother, now-King Frederick X, are still on good terms and Joachim even attended his brother’s accession events. The current heir to the British throne is a childish monster who rage-shrieks about how much he hates his brother. Joachim also spoke up, at the time, and criticized his mother’s decision, and she spoke to her son and there was never any kind of huge estrangement. Charles has gone years without contacting Harry and huge rifts still remain. I honestly don’t doubt that Charles has considered removing the Sussexes’ titles, but he probably feels like it’s too petty, even for him, and it would so obviously be and look like a personally-motivated punishment. Whereas Margrethe was clearly just doing some clean-up so that Fred wouldn’t be left with a sprawling, titled family.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, Cover Images, Backgrid.