bitchy | Guardian: Prince Harry considered a ‘Spencer’ name change over a passport snafu

Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet are both American citizens, I’m pretty sure. Lili is a natural-born American citizen, because Meghan and Harry were living in California and that’s where they welcomed Lili. Archie was born in the UK, but because Meghan is an American citizen, she likely sought and received American citizenship for her son. It’s trickier with Archie, but I’ve assumed this whole time that Archie has dual British-American citizenship. Anyway, my point is that when all else fails, Meghan, Archie and Lili are American citizens and they’ll carry American passports. But there’s a catch – apparently, Harry wanted his children to have British passports as well, perhaps to emphasize their dual citizenship. But circa late 2022-2023, the British officials were slow-walking the passports for the kids. That seems to be the root of the “Harry spoke to the Earl Spencer about changing his family’s surname to Spencer” story. From the Guardian’s exclusive:

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex explored the idea of changing their family name to Spencer amid repeated delays by British officials to issue passports for their children, the Guardian has been told. The suggestion was a result of “sheer exasperation” and came during a face-to-face meeting between Prince Harry and his uncle Earl Spencer. He was understood to be enthusiastic and supportive of the name change.

Adopting the birth name of his mother, Diana, would probably have further deepened the rift between the Harry and the royal family, which shows no signs of being healed.

However, the discussion became moot because the UK passports for Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet were finally issued almost six months after the initial applications – days after lawyers for the Sussexes sent a letter threatening to pursue a data subject access request. This could have revealed details of the delays – and the nature of any behind-the-scenes discussions between British officials responsible for issuing the documents.

One source told the Guardian that the duke and duchess had feared that UK officials were dragging their feet because the passport applications included the titles HRH (His/Her Royal Highness) for both children. The applications also used the surname Sussex, which the family had already started using publicly; until 2023, Archie had US and British passports under the name Mountbatten-Windsor.

“There was clear reluctance to issue passports for the kids,” a source close to the Sussexes said.

The standard wait time for a passport is three weeks. But after three months without receiving them because of “technical issues”, it is understood Harry and Meghan reapplied using the 24-hour passport service, only to have their meeting cancelled at the last minute owing to a “systems failure.”

The source claimed that “the king hadn’t wanted Archie and Lili to carry the titles, most of all the HRH, and the British passports, once created, would be the first and perhaps the only legal proof of their names… Harry was at a point where British passports for his children with their updated Sussex surnames (since the death of Queen Elizabeth II) were being blocked with a string of excuses over the course of five months.

“Out of sheer exasperation he went to his uncle to effectively say: ‘My family are supposed to have the same name and they’re stopping that from happening because the kids are legally HRH, so if push comes to shove, if this blows up and they won’t let the kids be called Sussex, then can we use Spencer as a surname?’”

The Guardian understands that Prince Harry wants to keep the HRH titles for his children so that when they grow older they can decide for themselves whether they want to become working royals, or stay out of public life.

[From The Guardian]

From what I gather from this report, Archie already had a British passport issued under the Mountbatten-Windsor surname, which means that Harry and Meghan were applying for new passports for their children after QEII’s death. Which is what I originally thought with the “Spencer name change” story – it sounded like a back-up plan from when King Charles was dragging his feet about whether he would change the George V letters patent. There were months (roughly September 2022 through March 2023) where Harry and Meghan had no idea whether the new king was going to strip them of their Sussex titles or strip the kids of their HRHs.

As for the British officials playing games with issuing the passports… yet another establishment stitch-up, huh? It’s shocking how much power Buckingham Palace wields over bureaucratic sh-t like this. Pretty soon, we’ll hear from a royal expert that it’s absurd that Harry would demand passports for his children, how dare he! Also: it’s interesting that in this version of the story, Charles Spencer advised Harry to make the name change.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.