Harry, Archie and Lili’s Birth Certificates and explained

Many people are up in arms with regards to Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor and Lilibet Diana Mounbatten Windsor’s birth certificates. The two camps are really fighting each other and the biggest argument for the titles being on the Lilibet’s birth certificate is that Harry’s titles appear on his own birth certificate. So, let’s look at his birth certificate:

His birth certificate states ‘His Henry Charles Albert David. As all of you may know – royals do not usually have surnames. When a surname was needed Prince Charles’ children used ‘Wales’ or ‘Windsor’.

Next we shall look at Lilibet’s ‘Live Birth certificate’. This is a piece of paper completed and is a comprehensive questionnaire and comprises of many questions including such as whether the mother had a previous child/children. The form is available on-line for your own inspection. A certificate is then printed for the parents and this is then used when applying for the actual birth certificate. The document/certificate is normally signed by one of the parents, often the mother as she is the one in the hospital, but can also be the father and because this registration of birth has to be done within 24 hours in the UK (as it is the same in my country, I would assume it would be the same in the US, but I may be wrong) it is often the father who completes or signs the form. There is one snag when it comes to Lillibet Diana’s proof of live / birth certificate: The child’s names must have been decided BEFORE the birth. When a child’s name is not decided before the birth the proof of life document would state ‘Baby Mountbatten-Windsor’ (Baby + a Surname). Which is proof that the child’s name was decided before the alleged birth on 4 June 2021.

As far as Harry’s name being entered as ‘ of Sussex’ – the argument of the pro-Meghan camp does not hold water here; the was only GIFTED to Harry upon his marriage to Meghan Markle and does NOT appear on his own birth certificate. HRH or His Royal Highness is a ‘styling’ in the same vain as ‘Master’, Sir’ or even in practical terms ‘Mr’ in normal society. Not only can it thus NEVER be used as a surname, but the correct way to address someone with a royal styling would be His Royal Highness Prince Henry, the HRH coming BEFORE/IN FRONT OF the name.

Also note that that the is not a peerage title. A peerage title is an inherited title and in the past was always linked to a piece of land or a county. Nowadays it may not be as many inherited estates have been sold in the last century, however the titles may still have been inherited by the descendants of the previous Duke or Earl. Harry’s title of Duke of Sussex was a title gifted to him by Her Majesty the Queen and is thus a substantive title, one of several royal dukedoms. The first Duke of Sussex was Prince Augustus Frederick, the 6th son of King George III. The title became extinct in 1843 upon the death of Prince Augustus. According to custom Prince Edward should have been granted the title, but instead he was created with the understanding that he would inherit his father’s title of one day. A royal title can become ‘moot’ or even removed in certain circumstances and therefor can NOT be used as/instead of a name on legal documentation. It can however be added to the birth name of the individual, as we can see on Harry’s own birth certificate. Notable with regards to Lilibet Diana’s certificate is the fact that she was born in the United States and royal titles are not recognized in the United States Constitution according to the Foreign Emoluments Clause and its amendment made in 1810. The amendment clearly states that no US citizen may receive a foreign title from a foreign king or prince, thus, not only can Lilibet not be gifted a title by her grandfather when he becomes king unless she changes her citizenship to British, but Harry’s existing titles may not be used for profit or any legal trade or documentation within the border of the United States of America.

So let us look at Archie Harrison Mountbattent Windsor’s birth certificate (a copy thereof) and the (controversial) changes made at a later date (21.01.2021):

We see that in the first version of the birth certificate Harry’s names are entered as ‘His Royal Highness Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex’ and it was changed to ‘His Royal Highness Prince Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex’ – adding the title of Prince and the correct order.

In the first version Meghan is entered as ‘Rachel Meghan Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex’. This was incorrect in the first place, as it should have been ‘Her Royal Highness Rachel Meghan Duchess of Sussex’, however it was changed to ‘Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex’. This is incorrect. Only her birth names are UNIQUE to the mother – for example, if Harry and Meghan would divorce and Harry remarry, there can technically be another Duchess of Sussex and according to the birth certificate (after the amendment) she to would be Archie’s legal mother.

Technically and legally, there is this a lot wrong with BOTH certificates and it begs the question as to ‘WHY?’ - why was the change made so late, and not immediately upon noticing the incorrect order and omissions in the titles.