MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Prince Harry and Meghan expecting their first child next spring

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex made the announcement, on Monday, they are expecting their first child

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex announced Monday they are expecting their first child and many Brits have responded with the same enthusiasm that met news of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s impending arrivals: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

 But, unlike his or her older cousins, Meghan and Harry’s new arrival will not be a “Prince” or “Princess.”

That’s because of a century old decree made by Britain’s King George V in 1917. “At the time, there were revolutions happening across Europe and many monarchies collapsing,” she says. “So George V wanted a slimmed-down monarchy, kind of like Prince Charles is pushing for now.”

In short, the decree says that when it comes to the monarch’s great-grandchildren, only the eldest living son (George) of the oldest living son (William) of the oldest living son (Charles) of the monarch (Elizabeth), should have “the titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their Christian names”. All the Queen’s other great grandchildren are to be known as Lord or Lady, and would not need to be addressed as “His Royal Highness” or “Her Royal Highness.”

The Queen gave William and Kate’s children special dispensation to become HRHs. In 2013, a few months before George was born, she issued a decree, updating George V’s rules, to ensure that all William and Kate’s children, male or female, would be styled Prince or Princess. The change came a few months before the U.K.’s parliament updated the country’s succession laws to ensure that a new princess would not be bumped down the line to the throne by any younger brothers.

But, according to Lloyd Webber, it’s very unlikely that the Queen will make such an intervention for Meghan and Harry’s child. “There aren’t really grounds for it,” she says. The unborn child’s place at seventh in the line of succession means he or she will probably never take the throne.

“At the end of the day, would Meghan and Harry even want that? Harry has been very honest about being troubled on some levels about being a member of the royal family,” Lloyd Webber says. “And Meghan is the first self-made woman to marry into the royal family, and she’s an American. I think they’ll lean towards the example of Princess Anne whose children have no titles.”