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Meghan Markle And Prince Harry Change Name Five Years After Leaving Royal Family
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have announced a name change, five years after stepping down from senior royal duties.
The couple has faced intense scrutiny from the press and public since marrying and becoming the Duke and Duchess of Sussex back in 2018.
This became even more acute once they decided to step down as senior royals in 2020, leaving Britain.
Why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle exited royal life
When Prince Harry and Markle stepped back from senior royal duties five years ago, they said they wanted more independence and privacy.
In public statements, the couple cited relentless media scrutiny and restricted personal autonomy as major factors in their decision.
They also said they wanted to raise their children outside the constraints of full-time royal life while pursuing income-generating work and philanthropic projects.
The couple moved first to Canada and then to Montecito, California, where they set up a private home and launched Archewell, their charitable organization.
Stepping back from royal duties also allowed them to pursue commercial projects, including a deal with Netflix.
Their exit marked a highly unusual step in modern royal history, prompting significant media attention worldwide.
Prince Harry’s rift with his family
Since leaving the UK, Prince Harry’s relationship with the royal family has been widely reported as strained.
Interviews and public statements indicate disagreements over privacy, media handling, and the treatment of Markle by the press and palace staff.
In particular, Prince Harry has spoken about feeling unsupported in his mental health struggles and frustrated by perceived rigid expectations within the monarchy.
The rift has included limited public contact and criticism of the institution’s handling of various issues, including race, media intrusion, and family dynamics.
While Prince Harry has repeatedly stated that he values his family, he has also expressed that maintaining distance was necessary for his and Markle’s wellbeing, especially as they raised their children – Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4.
The tension between Prince Harry and the royal family remains a major talking point in media coverage of both the royal family and the couple’s life in the United States.
Rocky relationship with the press
Prince Harry has a long, documented history of conflict with the press following years of intrusive coverage of his mother, Princess Diana.
Markle, meanwhile, entered the royal family as a well-known American actress, making their relationship a high-interest story from the outset, particularly for both the UK and US media.
Scrutiny increased further as the couple began taking actions that broke with royal tradition following their marriage.
They publicly criticized press coverage, spoke openly about mental health and racism, and later stepped back from their roles as senior working royals.
These moves were covered extensively because they were unprecedented in modern royal history and had clear consequences for the monarchy.
Their legal battles with tabloids, high-profile interviews, and commercial media deals in the United States have kept them in the public eye, ensuring continued coverage long after their departure from royal life.
Not the first time family has changed names
Since distancing themselves from royal duties, there have been repeated calls for Prince Harry and Markle to be stripped of their titles.
However, the couple has retained the Sussex name, with Markle publicly adopting it as her surname.
In her Netflix docuseries With Love, Meghan, the duchess corrected actress Mindy Kaling after being referred to by her former surname.
“It’s so funny too that you keep saying Meghan Markle,” she said. “You know I’m Sussex now.”
The couple has also changed their children’s surname from Mountbatten-Windsor to Sussex.
More recently, they rebranded their website to Sussex.com. Sources said the move was intended to bring their projects and family identity under a single umbrella.
An insider told The Times: “It represents their unification and it’s a proud moment.”
Another name change made official
Addressing the future of their charity project, Prince Harry and Markle have confirmed that the Archewell Foundation will be renamed Archewell Philanthropies, five years after being founded, reports the Mirror.
Announcing the name change, a spokesperson for the pair said: “This next chapter allows Prince Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, to broaden their global philanthropic efforts as a family, with meaningful reach and maximum impact, grounded in the same values, partnerships, and their commitment to show up and do good.”
Reacting to the news, PR to the couple, Mayah Riaz, told the Mirror: “From a branding perspective, this is a smart and I’d say quite deliberate evolution rather than a reinvention.
“Moving from ‘Foundation’ to ‘Philanthropies’ signals scale, maturity and longevity. In branding terms, it’s a way of future proofing the name as their work expands beyond individual projects.”
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