The Disturbing Conversation The Royal Family Had Before Archie's Birth

In 2012, The Queen of England "issued a letters patent" giving Prince William's children the titles of "prince" and "princess," titles which would otherwise only have been given to them when Prince Charles, became King (via Newsweek). 

The Queen didn't do the same when Archie born. And while Archie isn't a prince yet, perhaps when Prince Charles becomes King, Archie and his yet-to-be-born sister will become "prince" and "princess" (via Express). Perhaps they won't. The royal family wanted to change the rule that grants grandchildren of the monarch the right to the title, specifically for Archie, according to Meghan Markle's bombshell revelation during her Oprah interview. "They didn't want him to be prince," Meghan Duchess of Sussex told Oprah on Sunday, March 7, 2021 (via People). "And that he wasn't going to receive security."

Security for her son, according to Meghan, would have gone along with the title of prince. The denial of such security was troubling. Especially because shortly before Archie was born, Meghan had just confronted a hard truth about her life as a working royal. The British Monarchy had silenced her, prohibiting her from answering allegations tabloids or newspapers, with the promise that she'd be protected. Instead, Meghan soon became the most-trolled person in the world. "They willing to lie to protect other members of the family, but they weren't willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband." What would happen to her son if he, too, was denied royal protection or security?

"Was the title important to you?" Oprah asked. "Of course," replied Meghan, for her son's safety. To this day, Meghan hasn't been given an official explanation as to why the royal family might have wanted to ensure that Archie would never become a prince. But she has a pretty good idea, anyways. 

In tandem with conversations about the fact that Archie would be denied security, and would not be granted the title of prince, Meghan described other conversations. Meghan revealed that there were "concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born." It seems that no one had the guts, or perhaps the respect to have this, or other above-described conversations concerning Archie's wellbeing, directly with Meghan. Instead, a member of the royal family talked to Harry, and Harry passed the concerns on.   

As Meghan pointed out, "the idea of the first member of color in this family not being titled in the way that other grandchildren of the monarch would be," is troubling. Especially because, as Meghan also points out, "60 to 70 percent of the Commonwealth" are people of color.