A royal insider has revealed how he was instructed to address Meghan Markle.
Scott Moore, the newly appointed CEO of Prince Harry’sInvictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025, explained that the guidance he received was far from the traditional form of address for a former senior Royal.
When the couple visited Vancouver, Canada, in February to inspect preparations for the global sporting event, Invictus’ CEO made sure to clarify how they should be addressed.
Moore was told that “‘Ma’am’ is fine.’ He was also told a simple ‘Sir’ was fine to address the Duke of Sussex”, the Daily Mail reports.
Historically, subjects must first call male members of the Royal Family ‘Your Royal Highness’, followed by ‘Sir’, while female members are addressed as ‘Your Royal Highness’, then ‘Ma’am’.
But when Harry and Meghan chose to resign from their duties as senior working royals in 2020, the pair were also stripped of their HRH titles. This means that they can no longer be addressed as Your Royal Highness, although they can still be referred to via their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles.
The pair’s requests to be addressed with formal titles such as Sir and Ma’am is a significant departure from their earlier stance in 2020. At that time, Harry insisted on informality with the public when he attended a tourism conference in Edinburgh.
Ayesha Hazarika, the event host, recalled: “He’s made it clear that we are all just to call him Harry.”
The significant change in address is not the only sign that the Harry and Meghan are shaking up their public image and role within the royal family. The pair have also made a radical change to their children’s identity.
According to the refreshed Sussex.com website, King Charles’s coronation marked the beginning of a new chapter for the Sussex offspring.
Archie, aged five, and Lilibet, three, have since adopted ‘Sussex’ as their last name rather than Mountbatten-Windsor—a departure from a Royal tradition dating back to 1960 when the Queen set the precedent for her male-line descendants to carry the Mountbatten-Windsor surname, following counsel from her advisors.
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