Meghan Markle makes a point of using Sussex name despite break from royal family

By 
 March 10, 2025

Meghan Markle famously cut ties with Britain's royal family, a move which she and husband Prince Harry publicly discussed during an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Yet despite now being outside of the royal family's good graces, she still insists on using the name they gave her. 

Markle asks to be addressed as "Sussex"

According to Fox News, an example of this arose on the second episode of her new Netflix series titled "With Love, Meghan."

At one point in the show, Markle told actress Mindy Kaling that she uses the surname "Sussex," an apparent reference to the fact that she is officially known as the Duchess of Sussex.

Podcast host Kinsey Schofield told Fox News that she believes Markle isn't simply taking advantage of a "rebranding opportunity."

"I think this is her stubborn way of trying to tell the royal family she will go around them and legally change her name if she has to in case they ever take away her title," Schofield stated.

"Technically, she can be [styled as] Meghan Sussex, but it’s rare that someone who was not born into the family takes a title as a surname," the podcaster added.

Those who marry into royal family usually don't adopt geographic names

Schofield went on to point out how Markle's husband was known in his youth as Harry Wales since his father was the Prince of Wales.

"Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were the York girls because their father was the Duke of York," she stressed before adding, "But Princess Diana was never Diana Wales. Catherine was never Catherine Cambridge."

"The royal family’s traditional surname is Mountbatten-Windsor… and Meghan knows this, or she wouldn’t have put it on the birth certificates of [her children] Archie and Lili," Schofield noted.

She concluded by saying, "It was Meghan and Harry who briefed the press in 2019 that their son was not going to have a title. Meghan then accused his lack of title on racism during the Oprah interview [in 2021]. Lo and behold, today, her American children… have titles."

Royal expert believes title is all Meghan and Harry "have to offer"

Royal watcher Richard Fitzwilliams also feels that the decision by Markle and her husband to highlight their royal connections is curious given recent history.
"It is interesting to see how they use Sussex, which is theirs to use, as their royal status is the one thing they have to offer," he remarked to Fox News.

Meanwhile, fellow royal expert Ian Pelham Turner speculated that the duchess is "obviously a perfectionist" and "using the Sussex suffix to show a distinction from Meghan Markle."

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