Meghan Markle Defies Palace Orders by Using HRH — William Sees It as Ultimate Betrayal of Late Queen’s Wishes

Three little letters have turned into one very big problem. On April 28, Meghan Markle made her first-ever appearance on a fellow creator’s podcast, sitting down with businesswoman and friend Jamie Kern Lima. In a video chronicling their hour-and-a-half-long chat posted on social media, the IT Cosmetics founder showed a photo of a gift basket filled with organic ice cream and homemade strawberry sauce Meghan sent her last year. Visible in the pic: a note written on the 43-year-old’s monogrammed stationery: “With the compliments of HRH The Duchess of Sussex.”

Royal watchers were aghast. In the 2020 “Sandringham Summit” before they left royal life to decamp to the U.S., Meghan and husband Prince Harry, 40, promised the late Queen Elizabeth II they would drop the coveted His/Her Royal Highness titles. “The Sussexes will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the royal family,” Buckingham Palace announced at the time.

The apparent breach of the deal has left Harry’s estranged brother, Prince William, incensed. “To say he was upset by Meghan’s continued use of HRH would be an understatement,” a source tells Star. “He was livid.” Now he’s plotting his revenge. William, 42, has vowed that once he inherits the throne from the ailing King Charles III, he’ll “settle the matter for good by stripping them of their titles,” reveals the source. “He’s telling courtiers it should have been done when Harry and Meghan announced they were leaving.”

Ready to Retaliate

Widespread media reports claim the Sussex camp has been operating with the understanding Harry and Meghan won’t use HRH in commercial or public settings — to promote her As Ever product range, Confessions of a Female Founder podcast or With Love, Meghan Netflix series, for example — but that private, personal use of the title is fair game. Those aren’t the terms, says the source. “They can say what they want, but William knows the truth and so do Meghan and Harry.”

To the future king, it’s cut-and-dried. “His argument is Harry and Meghan are either in or they’re out as senior royals. They can’t abandon their roles and continue to use the titles in public or private,” says the source. “They made their choice.” For them, that meant building a new life in Montecito, Calif., after fleeing the royal family amid attacks by the U.K. press, which the Sussexes have claimed were sanctioned and fueled by palace courtiers with the tacit support of Harry’s own family.

Charles, 76, has largely ignored the problem since he took the throne in 2022. William, however, “loathes Harry and Meghan, that much is evident,” says the source, adding he also gained the support of courtiers who, like him, believe Meghan defied the queen’s final wishes: “Now she’ll pay.” Precedent is on his side. According to Master Graham Zellick, a professor of public law and tribunal judge, His/Her Royal Highness are honorifics, not titles, and are “entirely in the gift of the sovereign,” as he wrote in a publication for a professional association for barristers in England and Wales. In other words, HRH could be withdrawn by the king. Stripping the duke and duchess of their Sussex title would be a bit more complicated, however. It would require the removal of a dukedom, which could only be accomplished through an act of Parliament.

Meghan has made clear how important the Sussex name is to her, telling pal Mindy Kaling on an episode of With Love, Meghan that she, Harry and their kids, Archie, 6, and Lilibet, 3, now use it as their last name. “I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me, but it just means so much to go, ‘This is our family name, our little family name,’” she explained.

No Desire to Fight

Charles’ inaction is a stark reminder of his failing health. A recent report alleged that the ailing monarch is “understood not to have any appetite for a fight on the issue.” More than a year after being diagnosed with cancer, which he confessed on April 30 has been “daunting” and “frightening,” he’s still being treated. “He has far greater things on his mind than worrying about whether Meghan has overstepped her bounds by using HRH,” explains the source. “He doesn’t like it any more than William does, but he’s not going to do anything about it. He would rather save his strength for the crown.”

He might also still be hoping for a reconciliation between the battling brothers. In Harry’s 2023 memoir, Spare, he shared that Charles pleaded with him and William not to “make my final years a misery” with their feuding. He also “doesn’t want to make things any worse for himself,” adds the source. After all, his relationship with Harry — now embroiled in an ongoing legal war with His Majesty’s government over the removal of his state security when he visits the U.K. — is already fraught. “He doesn’t want his legacy to be the king who exiled his younger son.”

Repeat Offender

Meanwhile, Meghan keeps trading on her fame to earn a living. Despite saying she’s “done with the prove-it game,” she works hard to present her life as perfect. Calling Harry a “fox” during her interview, for example, she gushed, “That man loves me so much.” She also revealed some over-the-top mothering, including sending daily messages and photos to “secret email addresses” the kids can access when they’re older. (“For them to be able to look back and go, ‘Oh my gosh, she has loved us so much!’”)

The Suits alum also puts “a little note in their lunch boxes” — despite the fact that her tots likely can’t yet read. “She doesn’t realize these shares into her private world can make her seem a little insufferable,” says an insider. “But ask Meghan and she’d probably say she’s just a proud mama.”

Tuning Out Critics

Meghan’s made it clear she doesn’t care about what critics — including William — have to say. Looking back at her nearly nine-year romance with Harry, she described how the two were thrust “into the trenches together” against British media attacks just months into their romance. She’s content with where things are now. As she said at the Time100 Summit April 23: “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”