When we were discussing the Duchess of Sussex’s first pregnancy in 2017-18, I felt strongly that Buckingham Palace would look completely terrible if they didn’t ensure that Harry and Meghan’s children were titled. It was a simple matter of their kids being the first mixed-race kids in the line of succession. By the time Archie was born and we learned his name, there was a claim that Harry and Meghan were the ones who rejected the idea of giving Archie a title. The Palace put the onus on them, and we were meant to believe that Harry and Meghan wanted to raise Archie as an ordinary, untitled child, but that his status would change when Prince Charles became king. It’s absolutely worth noting that even at the time, we were aware that if she wanted to, the Queen could change the royal title protocol and make Archie a prince or an earl or whatever. I was shocked that the Palace – even if it was only for the optics – didn’t style Archie like they’ve styled the Earl of Wessex’s kids, not with prince/princess titles, but with Lord/Lady titles. Now we know why.

Meghan Markle says that her son Archie was denied a royal title and royal protection — and that there were “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.” In her sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired Sunday on CBS, Meghan said the palace decreed that Archie — who turns 2 in May — would not have any title, a move she says was “different from protocol.”

“They didn’t want him to be a prince . . . which would be different from protocol, and that he wasn’t going to receive security,” she told Winfrey. What’s more, she says, “we have in tandem the conversation of, ‘He won’t be given security. He’s not going to be given a title.’ And also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.”

An astonished Winfrey asked Meghan who made that comment, with Meghan declining to answer, saying the revelation would be too damaging.

Later in the interview, Oprah pressed Harry on the issue, asking him who was behind the racially charged comment.

“That conversation I’m never going to share,” he said. “It was awkward. I was a bit shocked.”

He also said that the conversation happened early in his romance with Meghan. “That was right at the beginning: What will the kids look like?’ ”

When Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan, 39, were married in May 2018, Queen Elizabeth gave them the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Archie was entitled to a “courtesy title,” Earl of Dumbarton. However, the couple announced shortly after his birth that they had not given him a courtesy title and he would be known as Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. Under current guidelines, great-grandchildren of the monarch are not princes or princesses, except for children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, which is why Prince William and Kate Middleton’s children are Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

[From People]

Blind item: who spoke to Harry about “what will the kids look like” when he was dating/engaged to Meghan? I don’t think it’s Charles. It could be William. But given Harry’s reticence to name them, I suspect it was either the Queen or Prince Philip. The disrespect for Archie was baked into the institution from the very start, before Meghan was even pregnant. Those f–king colonizers could NOT hide their disgust that Harry would have children with a biracial Black woman. And the fact that they were telling Meghan – when she was heavily pregnant – that HER child would not get security, that HER child would not get a title… Jesus.

I’m absolutely positive that there will be a million keen bots blanketing the comment sections, screaming about “rules are rules” and Archie staying untitled is the “rule.” As we’ve seen before… the monarchy can be responsive and forward-looking when it wants to be. This was a moment for the Queen and her courtiers to assess the optics of the situation, understand that Archie was the first mixed race kid in the family, and change the rules for him. They didn’t. They didn’t want to.

Oprah reacts to Meghan Markle revealing somebody in the Royal Family was concerned about how dark Archie's skin color might be.

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) March 8, 2021

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, social media.