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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s six-part documentary series with Netflix was brought to a close with three explosive episodes. The couple spoke openly about their feelings and experiences in the lead-up to their shock exit from the Royal Family. At one point, the pair revealed they offered to give up their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles in a bid to break away from the Firm. The couple detailed their decision to step down as working royals, saying they previously tried to move to New Zealand in 2018 and then to South Africa before shocking the world with an Instagram statement revealing they were moving to Canada.
Despite claims they “blindsided” the late Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of Harry’s relatives, the couple insists they had been in regular conversations with them about the move.
In the fifth episode of their six-part series, Harry explained: “My father said: ‘Can you put it in writing?’ I said I would rather not because of what had happened last time. He said he couldn’t do anything unless it was put in writing. I put it in emails.”
He said he sent repeated messages on January 1,2 and 3 detailing their thoughts, and added: “In one of those I said that if it didn’t work out we would be willing to relinquish our Sussex titles if need be. That was the plan. We thought it would be good to give ourselves some breathing space, but we were also really passionate about continuing our work throughout the Commonwealth supporting the Queen.”
However, the couple has since been called out for being “inconsistent” when it comes to their Sussex titles.
READ MORE: Prince Harry’s Nottingham Cottage claim debunked after inconsistency highlighted
Harry was given the dukedom on his wedding day, making him the Duke of Sussex and Meghan the Duchess (Image: Getty Images/Netflix)
The couple claims conversations about their exit were being had for a while (Image: Getty)
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have been warned their Netflix documentary will “backfire dramatically” and go down “extremely badly” in the US as Americans quickly turn on the couple. The final three episodes of the six-part series have been released by the online streaming giant, which saw the Duke and Duchess of Sussex make a number of bombshell claims against the Royal Family.
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Russell Myers, royal editor at The Daily Mirror, questioned why Harry and Meghan are still using the Duke and Duchess styles if they were so willing to give them up.
Speaking on Thursday’s episode of the Pod Save The King podcast, he said: “Why are they still using them? Again, it’s another inconsistency. Give them up! Why are you still trading on this family that you are trashing? It is not your birthright to use [the titles] — use ‘Prince Harry’. It’s not your birthright to be trading on these titles.”
The commentator went on to criticise the documentary’s “pairing” of royal women, noting Harry’s repeated comparisons of Meghan and his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. “I think there was an awful lot of that in the final three episodes,” he said. “I think it was unfair. I think that Kate came off pretty badly.”
Mr Myers continued: “And what was being forced down everyone’s throats really — the comparisons between Diana and the comparisons between the royal women.”
Mr Myers argued the documentary’s depiction of Kate was harsh and ‘unfair’ (Image: Getty)
He suggested that Kate, Princess of Wales does not use her title in the same way as Meghan does, using her appearance on CBeebies Bedtime Story as an example. “You don’t get Kate reading a story on this bedtime thing that she did for the BBC saying: ‘Hello, I’m the Duchess of Cambridge,’ and I just don’t think that is the appeal, whereas it is for Meghan.”
“I wonder why they’re so keen to have it,” he continued, talking about the Sussex titles. “Is it because the association with the Royal Family is the only thing they’ve got? And they’ve got to keep spinning this yarn? But the very fact that they’ve admitted that they were willing to get rid of them — give them up, you’d get a lot more respect from everyone if you did it.”
A new poll of Express.co.uk readers found widespread support for the Sussexes’ dukedom to be removed. Readers were asked: “Should Harry and Meghan be stripped of their titles?” in a poll that ran from 1.30pm on Friday, December 9, to 12.30pm on Thursday, December 15.
A whopping 25,142 people responded with 97 percent (24,255 people) voting “yes”. A further three percent (776 people) said “no”, they should not lose their titles, while 111 people said they did not know.
Calls for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to give up their titles have increased (Image: Getty)
Harry and Meghan were given the Sussex dukedom on their wedding day by the late Queen and Prince Philip, and retained the titles after their exit from the Firm. While the reigning monarch has the power to grant dukedoms, they are not able to remove them.
Conservative MP Bob Seely has recently said he is planning to introduce a private member’s bill to give the Privy Council the power to revoke the Duke and Duchess’ royal status. Last week, the Isle of Wight MP told MailOnline he was considering the bill to amend the 1917 Titles Deprivation Act before the couple’s Netflix series was released.
He argued the couple were “monetising” their titles, telling the PA news agency: “As well as trashing his family and monetising his misery for public consumption, he is also attacking some important institutions in this country.”
Following the release of the documentary’s explosive second instalment, there have been growing calls for the Sussexes to give up their titles or for them to be taken away. Royal expert and biographer Robert Jobson told MailOnline on Friday: “Harry claims in his Netflix docu-series he offered to give up his title Duke of Sussex. Given his and his wife’s distaste for our constitutional monarchy, surely it is time for the Crown to accept his offer. The title was given in anticipation of service to the Crown and country.”
Charles does not currently have the power to remove the Sussexes’ titles (Image: Getty)
However, Pauline Maclaran, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Research at Royal Holloway, University of London, told Express.co.uk King Charles III, if given the power to, is not likely to remove the Sussexes titles.
The author of Royal Fever: The British Monarchy in Consumer Culture, said: “I don’t think Charles is likely to do that. I think he will rise above it.”
She added: “Stripping [Harry and Meghan] their titles would strip them of their brand. They can no longer use HRH, but they are certainly royals with their Duke and Duchess status. It would have big implications for their brand. What are they if they are not royals?”
It has been reported that neither Kensington Palace nor Buckingham Palace will be addressing the claims made in the documentary series.
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