Will Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Lose Their HRH Titles a Year After Their Royal Exit?

As Meghan Markle and Prince Harry prepare to mark one year since stepping down as senior members of the royal family, their royal titles are coming into question.

As part of the couple's agreement with Queen Elizabeth last year, Meghan and Harry retained their His/Her Highness titles but not longer use them.

"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex remain members of the Royal Family and remain named and titled, as such. As explained in the January announcement, from Spring they will formally retain their titles of 'His/Her Royal Highness' but no longer actively use their 'HRH's," a Sussex spokesperson said in a statement released by Buckingham Palace in March 2020, when they officially stepped down.

When Princess Diana was stripped of her HRH title following her 1996 divorce from Prince Charles, the move was seen as overly punitive — and insiders expect the Sussexes to retain them as their arrangement is reevaluated one year after their royal departure.

Meghan, 39, and Prince Harry, 36, retained their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles, but have opted to simply introduce themselves by their first names on several occasions over the past year. In their Spotify podcast debut last month — launching their Archewell Audio production company — they introduced themselves simply as "Harry" and "Meghan."

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Still up in the air are Prince Harry's military titles. For the Afghanistan war veteran and former Army captain, the loss of his honorary military titles would be devastating.

In November, Harry's request to have a wreath of poppies laid at London's national memorial to those servicemen and women who have fallen was denied.

Harry "understands that he doesn’t have the same formal role in the family as he used to," a source close to him told PEOPLE. “But he was saddened and disappointed by the decision.”

He’ll continue to promote his Invictus Games for wounded warriors.

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