Call to strip Harry and Meghan of titles

A Tory MP plans to bring forward proposed legislation that could eventually strip Prince Harry and Meghan of their royal titles.

Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely accused the Duke of Sussex of “attacking” the monarchy, calling it a “political issue”.

He suggested he could bring forward a short private members’ bill in the new year that, if passed, would see the MPs vote on a resolution that could give the Privy Council the power to downgrade the couple’s royal status.

It comes after a new Netflix documentary on the couple began streaming on Thursday, in which Harry accused the royals of having a “huge level of unconscious bias” and Meghan saying the media wanted to “destroy” her.

Seely told the PA news agency that he had been considering his private members’ bill, first reported by the MailOnline, even before the latest controversy over the Netflix documentary.

It would amend the royal 1917 Titles Deprivation Act, which stripped royal titles from those who supported Germany in World War I.

Bills proposed by individual MPs, and without government backing, rarely pass through parliament.

Seely said he would likely put down the amendment in early 2023, with the bill likely to be very short.

“There is a political issue,” he said.

“As well as trashing his family and monetising his misery for public consumption, he is also attacking some important institutions in this country.”

Seely asked why Harry continued to use the titles while “at the same time trashes the institution of monarchy and his family”.

Labour MP Rachael Maskell already has a bill going through parliament that would give the monarch new powers to remove titles, or a committee of parliament to determine that a title should be taken away.