Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s baby is due any day now. And one of the most pressing questions about the coming new member of the royal family is what would his (or her) citizenship be considering the couple’s differing nationalities.
Making History
The coming of baby Sussex is set to make history. There’s the fact that the baby will be the first biracial royalty who’s in line for the British throne in the modern times. Once born, Markle and Prince Harry’s offspring would be 7th in line to the throne. Then there’s also the fact that he or she will technically be both a United States citizen and a United Kingdom citizen.
While the royal family hasn’t made any official statement about the baby’s citizenship yet, baby Sussex will automatically get US citizenship being born to a citizen mother. According to the US Department of State, a person will get American citizenship despite being born to one non-American parent in a foreign land as long as the citizen parent has lived in the US five years before the child’s birth. Markle only moved overseas in 2017, only two years ago.
However, the birth of the child still needs to be reported to the American consulate in the UK to acquire the official documents for citizenship. Will the couple do this though? More importantly, would the queen allow an heir to the throne to have dual citizenship should the new parents decide to?
Meghan’s UK Citizenship Status
It has been previously reported that the Los Angeles native Markle plans on becoming a UK citizen after marrying into the British royal family in 2018. It’s worth noting though that this would be a long process.
However, some sources say that Markle doesn’t really have to renounce her American citizenship since she did not marry a direct heir. What more, there’s less pressure for her because she doesn’t have royal ancestry. For context, Prince Philip, the queen’s husband, had to give up his titles as the Prince of Greece and Denmark before he was allowed to marry Queen Elizabeth II.
The royal child’s dual citizenship may also be probably because it’s quite unlikely that he or she will ever sit on the throne. But a thought of a half-American King or Queen remains quite poetic for some considering events in US and British history hundreds of years ago.
Royal Title
Since the couple has kept Markle’s birth quite private, the baby’s gender is still unknown at the moment. The boy or girl’s future title also remains under wraps still.
However, people have speculated that their kid would get the title of the Earl of Dumbarton and a secondary Sussex title should they welcome a boy. Meanwhile, the baby could possibly be Lady Mountbatten-Windsor should Markle give birth to a girl.
One thing’s for sure though. The baby won’t receive a prince or princess title like their cousins Princes George and Louis, and Princess Charlotte.