By Ben Kerrigan-
A UK Conservative Party politician has said he is planning to introduce legislation that could potentially strip Prince Harry and Megan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, of their royal titles.
Bob Seely, an MP for the Isle of Wight, told the PA news agency he considered tabling a bill early next year to amend the 1917 Titles Deprivation Act.
If passed by parliament, the resolution would grant the Privy Council the right to demote the royal couple’s status.
The Tory MP’s statements come after the release of a new Netflix documentary, Harry & Meghan, in which the royal couple detail their relationship with the royal family.
The trailer for the final three episodes, out next Thursday, hints at an attack on the family, nicknamed The Firm by the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
In the one-minute clip, Meghan says on camera: “This is when a family and a family business are in direct conflict.” Meanwhile, Harry states: “Everything that’s happened to us was always going to happen to us …” The trailer includes Meghan saying: “Suddenly, what clicked in my head was: it’s never going to stop.”
Prince Harry did accuse his family of unconscious racial bias, and failure to protect Meghan from racially charged reporting, the couple have so far focused on the early days of their relationship, and directed their ire at the media.
Chronologically, the next three episodes, which stream from next Thursday, are expected to cover the dramatic exit and its fallout, with Buckingham Palace braced for far more damaging revelations. “Next week will be poison,” one royal source told the Times.
The first episode was watched by 2.4m viewers on TV sets in the UK on Thursday. Much of the UK media’s coverage of the documentary has been highly critical, with some rightwing newspapers calling for the couple’s titles to be removed.
The Conservative MP Bob Seely plans to bring forward legislation to enable this. The Isle of Wight MP suggested he could bring forward a short private member’s bill in the new year that, if passed, would see MPs vote on a resolution that could give the privy council the power to downgrade the couple’s royal status.
On Friday, he tweeted: “Harry Windsor should voluntarily relinquish his titles. If he doesn’t, parliament should act to remove them. If Harry Windsor doesn’t like the monarchy, don’t be part of it, but don’t use your titles AND trash the institution.”
He said the wording of the Titles Deprivation Act 1917, which stripped German royals of their UK titles during the first world war, could be amended to update the law, and allow parliament to remove the couple’s titles.
But Downing Street said it did not back the move. Asked about parliamentary efforts to strip the pair of their titles, Rishi Sunak’s deputy spokesperson said: “I believe you are referring to a private member’s bill, which we do not support.” Anything relating to the Netflix series was “matters for the palace”, he added.
On Friday, the king and queen consort met “Hollywood royalty” on a visit to Wrexham football club, co-owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Reynolds and McElhenney said they had not seen the documentary, and McElhenney went as far as to say: “I’ve never heard of it.”