Prince Williamis prepared to take 'drastic action' against Prince Harry andMeghanMarkle by backing the removal of their royal titles when he becomes king, royal biographer Tom Bower has claimed in a new interview about the couple's recent Australian tour.
The warning follows the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's much-publicised trip to Australia, billed by supporters as a soft-power success and by critics as a carefully staged 'quasi-royal' visit. The tour, conducted without palace involvement, has revived long‑running questions about how far the couple can trade on their Windsor connections while remaining outside the working royal fold.
Bower, whose latest bookBetrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Familydissects the Sussexes' split from the monarchy, argues that Harry and Meghan's Australian engagements have pushed them closer to losing their Duke and Duchess of Sussex styles altogether. He insists the core dispute is not personal animosity, but money.
According to the biographer, the couple's desire to turn their status into income is precisely what will eventually force Prince William's hand.
'It was a desperate bid to commercialise, which is going to rebound on them,' Bower told Woman's Day, accusing the Sussexes of using every overseas appearance to 'exploit their royal status to earn money.' In his view, that tactic has made continued association with the couple intolerable for the palace.
The most contentious of Bower's claims centres on royal titles, and what happens to them once the current reign ends. He predicts thatKing Charleswill not move against Harry and Meghan while he sits on the throne, but that Prince William will take a far harder line as monarch and push to remove their Sussex titles.
'Yes, when William's king, I think he will strip them of their titles, because it's hugely damaging to the royal family,' Bower said, arguing that any such move might 'look spiteful' from the outside but would, in his view, command public support. He contends that 'the majority of Britons' are now 'sick to death of seeing Harry and Meghan exploit their royal titles.'
Buckingham Palace has not commented on Bower's remarks, and there is no official indication that title removal is being considered. Under royal protocol, the question of dukedoms and styles is ultimately a matter for the monarch and Parliament, and any prediction of future action remains speculative.
He goes further still, saying that if the titles were stripped, he believes they should also be removed from the couple's children,Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. In his telling, King Charles erred by granting those titles at all.
'Charles should never have given them titles. He was weak to concede it and he made a mistake,' Bower claimed, alleging that Meghan wanted Archie 'to be the same as George' and that royal rank for the children was part of a wider plan to 'monetise the royal family.'
Source: International Business Times UK
