Overview

• Prince Harry held a face-to-face meeting with Earl Spencer to discuss adopting the Spencer surname instead of Sussex for their children.
• Their applications for British passports were stalled for nearly six months after including the Sussex surname and HRH titles.
• Buckingham Palace and the Home Office both denied any intervention in delaying the passport issuances or objecting to the HRH honorific.
• The passports were finally issued days after the Sussexes’ lawyers threatened a data subject access request to uncover reasons for the delays.
• The episode underlines the ongoing rift over family names and royal titles since the couple stepped back from duties in 2020.