A council is scheduled to debate stripping Prince Harry and Meghan Markle of their royal titles after a petition received thousands of signatures calling for the removal.
Campaigner Charles Ross launched the petition against the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the Brighton and Hove City Council website in July. The petition has now been signed by more than 3,800 people and will be discussed by the council on Thursday.
The royal couple were bestowed the royal titles by Queen Elizabeth II following their royal wedding in May 2018.
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The announcement on the royal family's website reads: 'The Queen has today been pleased to confer a Dukedom on Prince Henry of Wales. His titles will be Duke of Sussex, Earl of Dumbarton and Baron Kilkeel.
'Prince Harry thus becomes His Royal Highness The Duke of Sussex, and Ms. Meghan Markle on marriage will become Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex.'
As a result, Her Majesty is the only individual with the power to strip the couple of the title, if she so wished.
‘We the undersigned petition Brighton & Hove Council to reject the usage of the titles "Duke of Sussex" and "Duchess of Sussex" by the individuals Henry ("Harry") Windsor and Rachel Meghan Markle as morally wrong and disrespectful to the county of East Sussex,’ the petition reads.
‘As residents of Brighton and Hove we call on Brighton and Hove Council to not refer to these individuals by such titles which we believe to be entirely non democratic and symbolic of the oppression of the general public by the wealthy elite.’
The petition continues, calling for Brighton Council to not ‘invite or entertain these individuals nor afford them any hospitality or courtesies above and beyond that of an ordinary member of the public’.
Last year, the royal couple – who have since become parents to Archie Harrison – visited Sussex and those involved in the Survivor’s Network, a charity founded by female survivors of sexual abuse.
Thomas Mace-Archer-Mills, founder of the British Monarchists Society, told the Daily Mirror that he was shocked by the petition.
‘We are utterly dismayed that said petition has been signed by so many,’ Mace-Archer-Mills said.
‘This certainly highlights that Brighton and Hove is a hotbed of Republican dissidents and is now proven to be so.
‘Such a petition shows utter disdain and contempt for The Crown, not to mention copious amounts of disrespect to, and for, the Royal family which undertakes thousands of engagements per year on behalf of the nation, in right of Her Majesty as The Crown.’
He added: ‘This petition wreaks of republican drivel and lacks any real substance and intelligent reasoning.’
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