Harry and Meghan’s children are likely to lose their titles – but there’s only one way for William to do it while keeping his hands clean. Another royal household has already shown him the way: SHARON HUNT

The most well-informed royal experts are convinced it is only a matter of time before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s children lose their HRH titles.

The belief is that William, Prince of Wales, will make the difficult call once he becomes King, succeeding his father, Charles III.

The transatlantic rift between the Waleses and the Sussexes already seems to be irreconcilable, but ultimately any move to strip Archie and Lilibet of their titles will most likely form part of a broader strategy to ‘slim down’ the monarchy.

After all, this is an edict originated by King Charles during his reign and one insiders expect William to continue – with the logic being that HRH titles should be reserved solely for working members of the family.

It’s not an altogether controversial idea, although I suspect such an announcement would land like a nuclear bomb in Montecito when made official.

As an Australian, the British Royal Family are my royal family, but my specialty is the Danish royals, on account of their reigning queen being Mary, the girl from Tasmania.

Amid the headlines about what William may or may not do about the titles of his brother Harry, sister-in-law Meghan and their children, I was reminded of the fact this is a well-trodden path for the Danes.

You see, executing a royal title removal with minimal outrage or upset requires a measured and strategic approach.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are pictured with their children, Archie, six, and Lilibet, four, during a recent trip to Disneyland

One of the last times Prince William, 43, and Prince Harry, 40, were seen together was in 2021 at the unveiling of a statue of their mother Princess Diana at Kensington Palace. Now, there are reports that William plans to eventually remove Harry’s children’s HRH titles

King Charles, 76, is undergoing treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer. He is pictured here in March 2025, a few months after one of his most recent surgical procedures

Ultimately, the goal is to keep the British Royal Family reputationally intact – which means minimising any noise from California – while persisting with the ‘slimming-down’ strategy which, most experts agree, is the right path for a modern monarchy.

If the British are looking for a prototype, they would be wise to glance across the North Sea at how a similar title stripping situation unfolded in Denmark.

Adopting the Danish royal family’s blueprint for title removal could potentially not only keep William’s hands clean, but it may even hold the door ajar (even if by just an inch!) for a future reconciliation between the warring brothers.

But it requires the agreement and participation of William’s father, King Charles.

In Denmark, it all goes back to September 2022, during what would ultimately be the penultimate year of Queen Margrethe II‘s reign.

The monarch made the unexpected decision to ‘future-proof’ the royal family and ‘slim down’ the court.

The elderly Queen, now 85, announced she had made the decision to revoke the HRH titles of her youngest son Prince Joachim‘s four children: now-titled Count Nikolai, Count Felix, Count Henrik and Countess Athena.

She said that revoking their princely titles would allow her grandchildren to ‘shape their own lives, without being limited by the special considerations and obligations that a formal affiliation to the Royal House of Denmark entails’.

In late 2022, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, 85, announced that four of her grandchildren would lose their princely titles. She is pictured a few months after the shock announcement

Prince Joachim, 56, angrily declared that his four children were hurt by their grandmother’s decision to strip them of their titles

King Frederik and Queen Mary are now a year into their reign. The royal couple’s own children (from L-R) Princess Isabella, Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent along with Crown Prince Christian (not pictured) retained their titles

She added that the decision was ‘in line with similar adjustments’ made by neighbouring royal households, where those lower down the line of succession have had their HRH titles removed without controversy.

But the decree did not go down well with the father of the downgraded royals.

Prince Joachim, angrily and publicly hit back, declaring that his children had been ‘mistreated’.

‘Why should their identity be removed? Why must they be punished in this way?’ he questioned at the time.

As the story of the stripped titles made headlines worldwide, Queen Margrethe issued a mea culpa of sorts, conceding that she had ‘underestimated the extent to which my younger son and his family feel affected… and for that I am sorry’.

But even with hat (or crown) in hand, she continued to stand firm in her directive.

Notably, Frederik and Mary – soon to become King and Queen of Denmark – stayed neutral on the decision, both supporting the Queen while simultaneously expressing sympathy for Joachim’s family. 

Frederik and Mary began their reign in January 2024 with their hands clean, as the business of slimming down the royal family had already been carried out by the retiring monarch

Queen Mary said at the time: ‘Change really hurts, but as I said, it does not mean that the decision is not the right one.

‘And I can understand that it is a very difficult decision to have to make, and also a very difficult decision to receive.’

A little over a year later, Margrethe’s reign was over. She stepped down in late 2023 and handed over the throne to her son Frederik and his wife Mary in January 2024.

As King Frederik and Queen Mary ushered in a new chapter for the Danish royals, they also inherited the legacy of Margrethe’s slimmed-down family directive.

Thus, the royal couple commenced their reign with their hands clean and reputations intact because the decision to remove the titles of Prince Joachim’s children had not been made by them.

The blow was dealt by the retiring monarch, allowing them to remain a neutral party. 

This is the move that the British royals should be examining closely.

King Charles is 76 and undergoing treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer. 

While still just shy of three years into his reign, his advanced age and ongoing health concerns suggest it is unlikely he will hold his position for an extended period of time.

The current and future King are both reported to be advocates of a ‘slimmed down’ royal family

However, what the British incumbent can do during his time in charge is provide surety and stability for the next generation by making a tough call.

Like Queen Margrethe did at the end of her reign, King Charles has the power to cut the HRH cord from Prince Harry’s children – once and for all confirming that their future lies beyond the Royal Family.

Just as Margrethe experienced, it’s a decision almost certain to cause backlash and upset from Harry and Meghan.

An explosive tell-all podcast, a televised interview, another damning biography are all fair probabilities from a prince likely to be enraged and his American wife.

But there is a glimmer of hope. You need only consider what is unfolding within the walls of Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen as a potential precedent for what could happen next.

After the title-stripping fiasco, Prince Joachim, his second wife, Princess Marie, and their two children left Denmark in a huff, moving to the U.S. (sound familiar?) where Joachim took up a role at the Danish embassy in Washington, D.C., in January 2023.

During the time they have lived overseas, the crown has shifted from Margrethe to her eldest son Frederik – and some of those past hurts appear to have simmered down with it.

The children of Prince Joachim (second right) and his wife Princess Marie (second left), as well as his two children from his first marriage, lost their titles in 2023. (The children are pictured from left: Count Nikolai, 25, Countess Athena, 13, Count Henrik, 16, and Count Felix, 22)

In a symbolic gesture of reconciliation, King Frederik recently conferred the prestigious Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog upon his eldest nephews, Count Felix and Count Nikolai 

So much so, that only recently Joachim gave a televised interview declaring that he and his family now harbour ‘a desire to come home’.

There are even promising reports of Frederik and Mary actively looking for roles for Joachim’s family within the royal fold, signaling a possible reintegration.

Furthermore, there has been an olive branch extended by Frederik and Mary to his brother’s family, with the King awarding his eldest nephews – Joachim’s adult sons from his first marriage – the prestigious Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog.

A Danish royal family reunion – which a year ago seemed almost impossible – could very well be on the horizon.

While the situations are certainly not identical, it would bear consideration for William to advocate that his father follow Margrethe’s example by being the one to make the decision on Archie and Lilibet’s royal titles while still the reigning monarch.

In the short term, blowback is to be expected. Harry will likely be upset.

But, as seen in Denmark, Margrethe’s self-sacrificial decision to remove the titles and bear the brunt of the fallout before her reign ended may well have had the effect of limiting the rift between her sons, Frederik and Joachim.

Now, there is perhaps even scope for the estranged brothers to reunite and fully repair their past fractures.

Could the same happen for William and Harry? It’s no guarantee – but it’s a far more likely scenario than if the job of stripping HRH titles falls to the future King.