Having covered the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from the very beginning – when they were just Prince Harry and Meghan Markle – I still have questions about the timeline being provided by both Camp Sussex and Camp Cambridge/Wales/Windsor. One of the timeline questions is about how everyone seems to be in agreement about how the wedding was the beginning of the end regarding Harry’s relationship with William and the family at large. But that’s not how I remember it. The summer of 2018, just after the Sussexes were married, it did feel like everybody in the family made an effort, from the Queen to Charles and even William and Kate. The breaking point, as it seemed in real time, was Meghan’s pregnancy announcement and the Sussexes’ South Pacific tour. THAT is when everything changed. Immediately following the tour, it felt like people within the family were going out of their way to attack the f–k out of the Sussexes, Meghan in particular.

The timelines and what we can now see in retrospect… all of that will be examined and re-examined and analyzed for months and years following Sussexit. I bring that up because some people have a theory about how the Sussexes side-stepped giving Archie a title:

Baby Archie’s lack of titles suggests Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may have been planning to step back from the royal family as early as last year, an expert claimed today. Joe Little, the managing editor of Majesty magazine, said that Archie’s lack of titles hint at his parents’ ‘wider masterplan’ to step back from their roles as royals.

The couple’s son was named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor following his birth on May 6 last year. As the first-born son of a duke, Archie could have assumed the title of Earl of Dumbarton. However the couple stated he would simply be known as Master Archie, which at the time was said to be in line with his father’s wish that he grow up as a private citizen.

Mr Little told the Express: ‘The fact Archie isn’t Earl of Dumbarton or styled HRH makes me wonder whether this wasn’t already part of a wider masterplan.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Honestly, I questioned at the time if Archie’s lack of title was entirely up to the Sussexes. I blamed the Queen and Prince William for the lack of title – I thought William probably pitched a fit about it and the Queen acquiesced. But what if the whole “Harry and Meghan don’t want Archie to have a title” thing was real and not just a cover story? Maybe they really were leaving their options open even back then. Considering the ramped-up smear campaign during Meghan’s pregnancy, that timeline would make sense. Not so much as a “master plan” to Sussexit, but to leave their options open so they could leave with more ease if push came to shove. That being said, I still think Archie should have gotten a title! Archie was the first mixed-race great-grandchild of the Queen, and it felt so notable and shady that he didn’t get a title.

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