Wouldn’t you know it, the internet is talking about Meghan Sussex again. That, at least, is nothing new, but this time, it’s not for something she said, but for something someone else said as she entered a room.
In Harper’s Bazaar’s cover story of Meghan, on two separate instances, she is announced as “the Duchess of Sussex” as she enters a space. The first is at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, where she arrives via golf cart to meet a group of girls from a local STEM academy. The second is across the country in a New York City brownstone, where the house manager announces “Meghan, Duchess of Sussex,” even though, as the cover story details, Meghan and the writer of the piece “appear to be the only other two people in the house.”
Let’s get the big question out of the way: Is using her title this way against protocol, particularly since Meghan and her husband Prince Harry stepped back from their working royal roles five years ago, in 2020? The short answer is no, says Myka Meier, founder of Beaumont Etiquette and an expert in social, dining, and business etiquette. (She was trained in part in London under a former member of the royal household of Queen Elizabeth II and spent two years working on a global initiative led by its then-patron, the Prince of Wales—now known as King Charles III.)
“She’s choosing the more formal route, which is a matter of personal preference,” Meier says of Meghan, adding, “This is her choice, which is the point—that it is her choice. And so, for whatever reason, this is how she feels the most comfortable being introduced.”
“If they have the title, they are able to use it. It is their title,” Meier continues. It’s comparable to a doctor choosing to use their title or to eschew it.
“Whether you’re prime minister, president, or a duchess or princess, it is up to you how you would like to be introduced and how you would like to introduce yourself,” Meier adds.
How are other members of the royal family introduced when they walk into rooms? Again, it is a matter of personal preference. Meier points to Prince William, who often introduces himself as he walks into a room—as opposed to someone else introducing him—and prefers to simply be called William rather than the Prince of Wales when it is a one-to-one meeting or a smaller gathering. “Now, if he’s being introduced at a state banquet or something like that, it’s a whole other ball game,” the etiquette expert explains. “That is what we have seen in recent years from the younger modern royals.”
But, as Meier caveats, anyone with a title is entitled to use it. “So that being said, she’s done nothing wrong,” she says of Meghan. “The protocol was correct in terms of her ability to use it.” The Duchess of Sussex is also Meghan’s legal title, so she’s able to employ it for both personal and professional use.
That said, while the use of her title passes the protocol test, from an etiquette perspective, Meier points out that it’s actually backwards—in the specific case of the Upper East Side brownstone, the guest should be announced, not the person the guest is coming to see. “Interestingly, the correct etiquette would’ve been to announce the journalist,” Meier says.
There is no thick book of royal protocol sitting somewhere in Buckingham Palace, Meier clarifies. “Every situation is treated as a one-off,” she explains, though she adds that, in the royal household, “everything is very planned and orchestrated.”
“Simply, protocol is the way that we do things to show respect,” Meier says. “That’s all it is. So there’s no etiquette handbook. There’s no protocol handbook.” She adds, “each royal is trusted to act and represent their title with respect and to do so the best that they know to do. And I think each royal is left trusted to do that in their own way, I would say.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.harpersbazaar.com ’
