Prince Archie is celebrating his seventh birthday today, with the young royal likely set to mark his special day with his family at their home in California. Following his birth on this day in 2019, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle opted to not give their young son a princely title – only referring to him as a prince after his little sister’s christening in 2023.
Archie was referred to by the title as, according to a spokesperson for the Sussexes following the family occasion, it was his “birthright” as one of King Charles’ five grandchildren. The spokesperson said that Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet would now use the prince and princess titles as Charles had become monarch.
The young royals, who are sixth and seventh in line to the throne, were known as Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor and Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor.
Following the announcement of Lilibet’s christening, a spokesperson for the Sussexes said at the time: “The children’s titles have been a birthright since their grandfather became monarch.
“This matter has been settled for some time in alignment with Buckingham Palace.”
Much like Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, Archie became entitled to use the title prince upon the King’s accession to the throne due to the late Queen Elizabeth’s grandfather, King George V.
In 1917, the King issued a Letters Patent which stated that the monarch’s children, male-line grandchildren, and the eldest son of the Prince of Wales are entitled to princely status.
According to royal historian Marlene Koenig, the 1917 Letters Patent effectively “established the current system of who is royal and who is not”.
Lilibet and Archie’s official family name is still Mountbatten-Windsor as it is written on their birth certificates.
It is the name is available to all descendants of the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip as it combines the Royal Family’s name of Windsor and the late Duke’s adopted surname of Mountbatten.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.express.co.uk ’
