Latest Update: This is the reason why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kept their Sussex title despite cutting ties with the royal family….See More

Meghan Markle, who is the star of a new Netflix series, has explained why she and Prince Harry remain the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Megan Markle says she and Prince Harry chose to keep their Sussex title – despite distancing themselves from the British royal family five years ago – because it is “part of our love story”.

Speaking to People magazine earlier this month, Markle said: “It’s our shared name as a family, and I guess I hadn’t recognized how meaningful that would be to me until we had children. I love that that is something that Archie, Lili[bet], H[arry] and I all have together. It means a lot to me.”

Harry and Meghan were appointed as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after they married in May 2018. In September 2022, when Harry’s father Charles became king, the couple’s two children were named Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet of Sussex

Harry and Meghan seek “space” from royal life
Nearly three years before Charles’ ascension to the throne, Harry and Meghan had announced that they were stepping back as senior British royals.

In a January 2020 statement posted on their official Instagram profile, the Sussexes spoke of a desire to “raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter”.

Pledging to divide their time between the United Kingdom and North America, Harry and Meghan then moved to California to bring up Archie, who had been born in May 2019. Their daughter, Lilibet, was born in the United States in June 2021.