The Duke of Sussex’s “His Royal Highness” title has been removed from the royal family’s website.
The change comes as part of the terms of the agreement under which Prince Harry and his wife Meghan stepped down as senior royals. Under the 2020 deal, Buckingham Palace said the Sussexes could retain their HRH titles but would not be allowed to use them.
However, parts of the royal website continued to refer to Harry as HRH for the last three years. That has now been changed, with the HRH references deleted and replaced by a description of Harry as “the duke.”
It came as Harry was pictured smiling and waving to an audience in Tokyo today as he attended a summit about sport, community and philanthropy. He joined a panel discussion with former New Zealand rugby player Dan Carter, as part of the International Sports Promotion Society Sports Values Summit.
The Palace deleted the HRH references on Friday and also corrected other errors on its website, including one that implied Harry, 38, was his five-year-old nephew Prince Louis. The Duchess of Sussex’s official royal biography stripped her of her HRH title three years ago. She is instead referred to as “Meghan”, “she” or the “duchess” on the royal website.
A Palace spokesman previously said: “The website is updated on a regular basis to reflect the work of members of the royal family. The royal family website contains over 5,000 pages about the life and work of the royal family.
“Following the death of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, content has been revisited and updated periodically. Some content may be out of date until this process is complete.”
Other amendments include updates on Clarence House and Kensington Palace to reflect the titles of the King and Queen. William and Kate’s titles have been changed online to the Prince and Princess of Wales, from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
It follows reports that Harry and Meghan will play no part in official events to mark the first anniversary of the death of the late Queen. Instead, William and Kate are expected to lead the tributes, with the King said to be marking the anniversary at Balmoral.
Harry arrived in Japan yesterday and was seen walking through Tokyo’s Haneda airport wearing a black shirt and a cap bearing the logo of the Archewell Foundation he runs with Meghan, who has not accompanied him on the trip. He will later travel to Singapore for his fundraising Sentebale Polo Cup on Saturday which he has said will help young people affected by HIV/Aids.
