Why she is not called a princess
If you've ever wondered why Prince Harry's wife is addressed as a duchess rather than a princess, here's the answer
With her marriage to Prince Harry, Meghan Markle became Duchess Meghan on May 19, 2018. Why that is so and why she will probably never become "Princess Meghan".
British royals: who can call themselves princess and prince?
The title of prince or princess is outside of the British nobility system and is carried exclusively by biological descendants of the reigning monarch, i.e. currently from the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Queen Elizabeth. Since Meghan - like Duchess Catherine and Duchess Camilla, by the way - is married into the royal family as a commoner, she is not a princess. However, a princess title - more or less - would still have been possible. To explain this, one has to go back a little further.
Why aren't Meghan and Kate a princess?
The highest rank of nobility that the Queen can bestow on non-royals is that of the Duke and Duchess, in English "Duke" and "Duchess". It is often given to princes and princesses, almost in personal union and as recognition, when they have reached a certain age or get married. Prince William is the Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry is the Duke of Sussex and Prince Philip is the Duke of Edinburgh. Your wives are therefore duchesses (except for the Queen).
Victoria Arbiter, whose father Dickie Arbiter has been a journalist on the British royal family for decades and spokesman for Queen Elizabeth from 1988 to 2000, explains: "If Queen William and Harry had not granted duke titles on their wedding day, their wives would be as Princess William of Wales and Princess Henry of Wales (...) became known (...). " Means: civil wives by marriage of princes are named after their husband for the sake of politeness; they do not receive a separate princess title such as Princess Anne, the Queen's daughter, for example. There will be no "Princess Meghan" or a "Princess Catherine" either way.
But there is the title "Princess of Wales?"
Since the 13th century, the direct heir to the throne of the monarch has usually been given the title "Prince of Wales". In the 14th century people began to name their wife "Princess of Wales" and not after her husband. Duchess Camilla, the current wife of the Prince of Wales, does not appear in public under the name "Princess of Wales". The reason is the problematic past with her husband's first wife, Princess Diana († 36).
What other special features are there with the titles?
Not every descendant of the Queen automatically becomes a prince or princess. This regulation was made in 1917 by King George V, the Queen's grandfather. The reason: At that time there were revolutions all over Europe and many monarchies collapsed. George V wanted a stripped-down monarchy to ensure its preservation. Accordingly, the title Prince / Princess was bestowed on: the monarch's children, the grandchildren of his sons and the eldest son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales (today that would be Prince George as the son of Prince William, for example) Successor to King George VI. even before the birth of Prince Charles in 1948, ordered that all descendants of his daughter Elizabeth receive the title, including the girls. Lucky for Anne, the Queen's daughter. Otherwise she would have been referred to as "Lady Anne Mountbatten" instead of Princess Anne.
In 2012, Queen Elizabeth expanded the rules on the title: All children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales (currently Prince William) are automatically princes and princesses, not just his eldest child, Prince George. If the Queen had not changed the decree, Prince William's daughter Charlotte would not be a princess and his second son Louis would not be a prince.
There is no such adaptation for Harry's family. According to the ruling, Harry and Meghan's son or daughter will not become a prince or princess. Presumably a girl becomes a "lady" and a boy a "lord" or "earl".
