Prince Harry already received a lot of criticisms after he and Meghan Markle decided to turn their backs on royal life. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced back in January that they wish to step down as senior royals to focus more on their family and charities. After their official royal exit at the end of March, the couple headed to Los Angeles to start a new life with their son Archie.
As if that’s not enough, Prince Harry shocked everyone when it was discovered last month that he dropped his Royal surname. The Duke of Sussex had always used Mountbatten Windsor, but that wasn’t the case in the registration documents for a tour firm Travalyst.
According to the paperwork, Prince Harry dropped Mountbatten Windsor and registered as Prince Henry Charles Albert David, Duke of Sussex instead. This decision may have hurt his grandfather Prince Philip, who has the surname, Mountbatten.
Prince Philip had to wait for a long time to pass the surname, only for Prince Harry to drop it. When Prince Charles was born, World War II was still fresh for the Britons, so the German surname Mountbatten was not given to the future King, which reportedly deeply hurt the Duke of Edinburgh.
“I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his children. I’m nothing but a bloody amoeba,” Prince Philip, reportedly, said according to Ingrid Seward’s book “My Husband and I: The Inside Story of 70 Years of the Royal Marriage.”
In 1960, a hybrid surname Mountbatten-Windsor was created to compromise Prince Philip, and it was meant to pass on to his descendants. Years later, Prince Harry and his son Archie took the surname.
But after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal exit, they were banned to use the word “royal” in their future activities. While the Duke of Sussex was not forbidden to use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor, it appeared that he decided to ditch his royal roots by not using it on his eco-travel venture.
As for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son Archie, Mountbatten-Windsor was listed on his birth certificate, so he will continue the legacy of Prince Philip’s surname. However, the Duke of Sussex is still allowed to use Mountbatten-Windsor if he wants to since he is not banned from using it in his post-royal activities.
