Meghan Markle will get a fancy new title when she marries Prince Harry — but it's so weird that she'll never use it

 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Belfast earlier this year.


The Royal Wedding will grant Meghan Markle a host of titles — including "Princess Henry of Wales."

She can be called that because she takes the official first name of her husband — and Harry's real name is Henry.

However, recent royal bridges have ignored the title, and recent tradition dictates that the odd-sounding style will never be used.


Princess Michael of Kent, who married in 1978, is the only living royal to be known by her husband's name.


When Meghan Markle ties
the knot with Prince Harry on May 19, she will officially become part of the royal family. That brings with it a new career, instant celebrity, a colourful cast of relatives — and several royal titles.

It is highly likely that Markle will become a duchess, like Kate Middleton did. But there's another title she will gain from the marriage that she will almost certainly never use for anything.

In keeping with royal tradition, after she marries Markle can technically be called Princess Henry of Wales.


She gets that title from the days when royal spouses took their husband's name (Prince Harry's name is not actually Harry, but Henry).

However, the realities of modern life mean that nobody will call her Princess Henry, mainly because it sounds really weird.

Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge with their newborn son, Prince Louis. 

The clunky name emphasises the fact that Markle won't be a princess in her own right, but through marriage. Women who are royal by blood, like Princess Charlotte or Princess Eugenie, get to use their own name.

The same rule means that Kate Middleton can also be called Princess William of Wales. But in reality she is never called that, even in official royal documents, which usually call her the Duchess of Cambridge.


Only one royal still sticks to this convention: Princess Michael of Kent. The 73-year-old took the name when she married Prince Michael back in 1978, when it wasn't so strange.

Prince and Princess Michael of Kent in 2016.

The present Duchess of Gloucester also used to be known as Princess Richard, after her husband Prince Richard, but dropped the title when Richard inherited the dukedom from his father.

The situation has become so odd that Princess Michael's website includes a "frequently asked questions" section explaining why she seems to have a man's name.


So, although this convention is perfectly correct — and indeed the only way Markle will be able to refer to herself as a princess — it is extremely unlikely to make a comeback.