Prince Harry could have been the royal receiving one of Prince Philip's coveted titles on Wednesday, when his grandfather briefly came out of retirement to hand over the role. Instead, the Duke of Edinburgh passed the title of The Rifle's Colonel-in-Chief to his daughter-in-law, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.
According to royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams, had Prince Harry remained as a senior working royal, he would have easily succeeded his grandfather as the Colonel-in-Chief. After all, the Duke of Sussex was in the army for a decade and received ceremonial military titles when he left service.
The Duke of Sussex inherited Prince Philip's honorary role as Captain-General of the Royal Marines in 2017 when the Duke of Edinburgh retired. He was the Commodore-in-Chief of Small Ships and Diving for more than 10 years and became an Honorary Air Commandant in the Royal Air Force in 2008.
His strong military ties make Prince Harry the more fitting choice than Camilla to take over for Prince Philip, except that he and Meghan Markle quit the royal family in March. Prince Harry lost all of his military appointments during his negotiations with Queen Elizabeth over his exit as a working member of The Firm.
Prince Harry, however, has yet to turn over his former titles to the next royal. Allegedly, Princess Anne, Prince Philip's daughter, was supposed to take over as the Captain-General of the Royal Marines but there has been no official notice from Buckingham Palace. Per an agreement with the Queen, the Duke of Sussex's military titles won't be relinquished a year after he left because his status with the royal family will also be reviewed.
The Duke of Sussex said in his last function as the Captain-General that he was devastated about losing his military titles. He said that he felt he let down a lot of people but had no choice on the matter because he and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, made a firm decision to leave the royal life.
Witnesses who saw Prince Harry give his last speech as Captain-General said that the royal looked emotional and upset. His life in the military, where he also did tour of duties in Afghanistan, was his most unique and precious experience. Among the troops, he was simply known as Harry Wales and he did his share of challenging work as part of a military squad.
