Can Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Sue King Charles III to Enforce the 1917 Letters Patent of King George V?
Maybe Prince Harry and Meghan could consider legal action against King Charles III for failure to upgrade their children Archie and Lilibet's status to Prince and Princess.
The Delphine Boel case Against King Albert II of Belgium is instructive
Jesus Christ. Don't make me go there. I don't want to be a litigious American. I really don't. But it perturbs me that Lilibet and Archie's titles have not yet been updated on the royal family website. Archie is listed as Master Archie and Lilibet is listed as Miss Lilibet. King Charles III and his courtiers need to do better than this. They are opening these children up to public ridicule, discrimination and mental anguish.
LEGALLY INDEFENSIBLE
This is legally inappropriate as far as I am concerned. It is also morally inappropriate. And it is insensitive. It opens up these children to differential treatment now, and in the future as they navigate their lives.
I guess the first question is how are letters patents enforced under British law? These are legal documents to my understanding, no? So, they are enforceable in court, no? The sitting monarch cannot arbitrarily refuse to honor a letters patent without due explanation or cause, correct?
I mean, this is crazy. Why aren't these children's titles updated? I don't want Harry and Meghan to sue King Charles. I want them to stop with the lawsuits for a little bit. But...
Admittedly, it will be hard to sue. First of all, Charles, as the sitting monarch, has sovereign immunity. He cannot be sued. However, if I were Harry and Meghan unless things are going on behind the scenes that I am not privy to and this situation is going to be rectified soon, I would be exploring legal options.
Because I don't see how you can just take someone's identity as a prince or princess. Not especially when you have the letters patent which is still good law that defines what is a prince and princess. It is a law in Britain that letters patents by the monarch are law. So, if a monarch breaks that law, there has to be a recourse. Those children have rights. Their rights are not totally dependent on their father, at this point. They have rights INDEPENDENT of their father. They can sue on their own behalf!
So for example, a child welfare organization in England can bring an action against the British government to have this letters patent enforced in their name, to my way of thinking about this.
Look at the case in Belgium when Delphine Boël sued her father, the former King of Belgium to enforce her right to be called a princess. She was born out of wedlock, in 1968, when her mother and the king had a multi-year affair. He never accepted her as his daughter and so she was not given the title of princess which is her legal right to be called as the child of the monarch. So she sued. And she subjected him to a DNA test, and she won the suit and the courts on appeal granted her demand to be called a princess.
From Wikipedia "She is the daughter of King Albert II of Belgium with Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, and the half-sister of King Philippe of Belgium."
These titles matter in these circles. I personally don't have to think it makes any sense. But the law is the law. Charles is breaking the law. Harry and Meghan can sue. I don't advocate it yet because I want them to mend their relationship with the House of Windsor. But the House of Windsor is going have to respect the legal rights of these children and change that website sooner rather than later.
Otherwise, we are gonna sue. Cause we are Americans and that is what we do. And I say this with great hesitation because I don't want to start anything but I have been patient and those kids still are not showing on the website as Prince and Princess, and this is not okay.
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