Since it emerged that Meghan Markle sent a gift basket to a friend with a card that described her as ‘HRH The Duchess of Sussex’ controversy has grown – now a constitutional expert has weighed in

A constitutional expert has weighed in on Meghan’s use of HRH title(Image: JAKE ROSENBERG/NETFLIX)

Meghan Markle has ‘blurred’ the lines when it comes to using her HRH title, according to an expert, amid a furious row. Controversy has grown over Meghan’s use of HRH after it emerged she sent a gift basket to make-up entrepreneur Jamie Kern Lima last year, with a monogrammed card reading: “With Compliments of HRH The Duchess of Sussex”.

Jamie showed an image of the present in footage of her podcast interview with Meghan which she released on Monday. As part of their Megxit negotiations with the Palace, Meghan and Harry agreed to stop using “Her Royal Highness” and “His Royal Highness” at the end of March 2020.

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The gift hamper Meghan sent pal Jamie Kern Lima that had a card using Meghan’s HRH title (Image: Jamie Kern Lima/YouTube)

They still retain the styles, with Harry having had his since birth, but they are essentially held in abeyance, as is the case for Prince Andrew, who also no longer uses his HRH style. The duchess’s representative denied on Monday that the couple used them, but a source said on Tuesday that the Sussexes did not use HRH publicly but retained the style, and did not use it for commercial purposes.

But according to constitutional expert Craig Prescott from Royal Holloway University of London, Meghan can use the title – but it is somewhat of a grey area. He explained to the Mirror: “Clearly when they stepped back from royal duties, one of the agreements was that they would not use these HRH titles but they still retained them.

“That’s because to strip them of their HRH titles is a little bit complex and maybe the Palace didn’t want to do that and to sort of keep the door open. If we remember they were stepping back for a year and then there would be a review.

“So they still have their HRH titles and the formulation was that they would not use this in an official capacity so that commercial activities don’t have a royal seal of approval.

Harry and Meghan agreed to drop their HRH titles when they quit their royal roles(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)

“In that sense, this was a personal message and so she could and I don’t think there is anything legally to prevent her from using this in a personal capacity. I think what is unusual about this is that it has come out in the open – and it’s that blurring of the personal and the private.

“But this is a friend, with whom she is doing a public appearances with so that’s really where the controversy lies. You would have thought that discretion being the best part of valour, you would not use it in a way that could easily become public.”

In January 2020, the late Queen issued a statement after Harry and Meghan announced they wanted to step down as senior royals, saying that “together we have found a constructive and supportive way forward for my grandson and his family”.

Buckingham Palace outlined “the new arrangement” for the “next chapter” in Harry and Meghan’s lives. It included the statement: “The Sussexes will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the royal family.”

No documents were signed or laws passed, but the decision was seen as a blanket ban, with no suggestion that Harry and Meghan were permitted to use the style privately.

And it could have been the nature of how Harry and Meghan quit royal duties that meant there was no formal action in removing their HRH titles, as Mr Prescott explained: “To revoke a HRH you would have to pass a letters patent and the palace didn’t want to do that because again i think there was always the possibility at the very least that they were coming back. Now that seems as unlikely as ever.

“Your concern is maybe that now there is no indication they are going to come back, is there any indication they are going to push against that gentlemen’s agreement so to speak and maybe start to use this HRH a little bit more? That will be the concern I think from the palace’s point of view.”