Harry & Meghan change their surname

[Gottseidank]

… from Mountbatten-Windsor to ‘Sussex’.
Apparently it’s to strengthen their brand.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/prince-harry-meghan-sussex-archie-lilibet-children-name-royal-title-cnvf7d9jf

Anyone with a hereditary title and also their spouse uses that title as a surname. So Lady Mary Crawley was surnamed Crawley, but her father would have been known as Robert Grantham, is my understanding, and her mother as Cora Grantham. I'm not sure that the same applies to their children though. The eldest son would be surnamed with any title his father had allowed him to use, so Archie Dumbarton was what I expected.

http://www.regencyresearcher.com/pages/titles2.html

This explains it better than i can

It’s not unusual for that to happen. The wales children switched from Cambridge to wales when their father’s title changed.

Once the children became HRH Prince & Princess they technically no longer had a surname so it’s not a surprise they’re using their father’s Dutchy as their surname for school and the likes

I think William and Harry were known as Wales at school.and William and and Kate,s children were known as Cambridge ( probably Wales now )
But of course it will be wrong just because its Harry and Meghan....

Harry and Meghan themselves have never been Mountbatten-Windsor.

It won’t change anything for them. Their name is not the issue.

What was their surname before?
Must say it’s confusing to the uninitiated.

I know the Duke of Westminster is a Grosvenor, but the royals do seem to have a flexible approach to their surnames (dropping Saxe-Coburg etc)

Harry was Wales as a child. The one they’d use would be Sussex.

HRH’s technically don’t have surnames. That’s why they don’t show on their birth certificates when they’re born as HRH, like William and Harry were.

Exactly.

They were 'Wales' at school and William's children are 'Cambridge'.

Anything to have a dig at Meghan eh?

Where’s the dig?

Theyre just (for once) doing what's traditional in the RF

William was Wales growing up & changed to Cambridge when he got married then back to Wales when he took the PoW title

Just like Edwards family used Wessex & Eugenie & Beatrice used York

Not that it's something I had given thought to but I assumed Harry would just naturally have changed from Wales to Sussex when he got married

It's not the big issue the media are making it out to be

Theyve changed it & now go by Wales apparantly.

When they were born they didn't have a title so H&M chose a surname for them. Now Charles is king they have a title - Prince and Princess - so they switch to using the name from their father's title. This isn't something Harry or Meghan are "claiming", it just follows protocol of title usage.
Just as William's children used the surname Cambridge when they were young and now use Wales, to follow their father's title.
H&M cannot do right for doing wrong these days. Give them a break!

Where’s the dig?

You said that they had changed their name, which they haven't and that it was 'apparently to strengthen their brand'.

It's a dig because it suggests that they have done something in a shady way in order to become more famous or relevant but they hadn't dome anything at all.

William, his brother isn't called William Mountbatten-Windsor. Not before he was married and not after he was married but you haven't suggested they have changed their name to strengthen their brand.

I do find it bizarre that The Times wrote a whole story on this. I mean, as a royal watcher it's vaguely interesting but I have to admit that I hadn't really thought about it much and if I'd been asked, I'd have just assumed the children were Sussex already so it seems a non-story to me.

The Mountbatten-Windsor thing was, I think, linked to Prince Philip. The idea being that his non-HRH grandchildren or descendants would take his name as his actual children couldn't. But there aren't actually a lot of them around. So Lady Louise (Edward's daughter) is Mountbatten Windsor. I guess technically Beatrice and Eugenie could have been too but they took on the HRH Princess E/B of York which is now what Harry has done for Archie and Lillibet. If Eugeuni or Beatrice had been a boy, even if they'd been Prince Benjamin of York, that imaginary boy's children would have been Mountbatten-Windsor.

I think Edward's grandchildren on James' side will be Mountbatten-Windsor (except, possibly, the first born who would have a title as he'd be an hereditary Earl?)

Ann's children also didn't get titles but they took their father's name hence they're not Mountbatten-Windsor.

Also, I guess, if Louise had children without being married she could give them the Mountbatten-Windsor name OR she could choose to keep Mountbatten-Windsor on marriage and then give her children that name when they come along. That would put the cat among the pigeons! But as she was reportedly very close to her grandfather perhaps she will do that. Ooh, I hope so!

How come the children weren’t Sussexes from birth?

William’s children are now Wales.

Prior to their marriage Beatrice and Eugenie were York.

Because they were given the legal surname of Mountbatten-Windsor as untitled descendants of QEII and Philip. Similar to Lady Louise.

Sussex isn't an actual surname. It's like a 'known as' because titled children can't really be HRH Prince Archie or HRH Princess Lilibet at school. They need a surname to use so using their parents title is the common royal way.

Because their parents said they wouldn't have titles. They were Master Archie and Miss Lilibet to begin without. Those without titles in the family use the surname Mountbatten Windsor.
Now their parents have decided that they will be Prince and Princess, so Sussex is the surname just as York was for Beatrice and Eugenie, and Wales was for William and Harry.

Thanks! It all sounds a bit of a headache, having a title.

Because they were not grandchildren of a monarch.

When HMQEII died Charles became King and Archie & Lilibet became grandchildren of a monarch so became Prince & Princess of Sussex.

This was the whole Oprah farce about not getting titles due to Harry not explaining to Meghan that it was perfectly normal for their children not to be Prince & Princess until Charles became King. It was a really disingenuous the way it was presented to Oprah, any British Journalist would have picked Meghan up on it.

The name change is such a non-story blown up by the media. The website is more newsworthy.

There has been some repetition on here (sorry, me too!) , but just to clarify, they have not changed their surname.
All that changed was the assumption of Prince and Princess titles for the children.

Yes, Letters Patent. Nothing to do with the children's ethnicity.