Who has the Royal Highness title in the UK following the Queen’s death? HRH meaning and tradition explained

Senior members of the Royal Family usually have the letters HRH attached to their titles.

But following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, who now has the HRH title and what does it mean?

Here’s what you need to know.

What does HRH mean?

HRH is a reference to either His or Her Royal Highness, with both royals born or who have married into the family being bestowed the title depending on their relation to the monarch.

A declaration that King George V made in 1917 said: “The grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have and enjoy in all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of Dukes of these Our Realms.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle - the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - relinquished their HRH titles after stepping down from senior royal roles.

Although Meghan obtained the title when she married into the family, after the Sussex’s decision to step down from senior royalty in March 2020, Buckingham Palace said: “The Sussexes will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the Royal Family."

However, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s children are now entitled to HRH titles following the death of the Queen.

It means the Sussex children are now technically Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor.

As the children of a son of a sovereign - grandchildren of the newly named King Charles III- they are entitled to the HRH style title if they wish to use it.

Which other royals have a HRH title?

The following all hold a HRH title:

• Princess Anne
• Prince William
• Kate Middleton
• Prince George
• Princess Charlotte
• Prince Louis
• The Earl of Wessex
• Sophie, the Countess of Wessex
• Princess Eugenie
• Princess Beatrice
• Duke and Duchess of Gloucester
• Duke and Duchess of Kent
• Prince and Princess Michael of Kent
• Princess Alexandra, the Honourable Lady Ogilvy