Royal rivalry? Are Prince Harry and Meghan competing with the queen?
Since they stepped down from their royal duties in January 2020, hardly a day has gone by without the tabloids publishing bylines about the Duke & Duchess of Sussex upsetting someone in the British royal family. Even before then, rumors swirled about Prince Harry & Meghan Markle’s strained relationship with the British royal family.
The latest allegation involves Queen Elizabeth II being upset with Prince Harry & Meghan Markle. Per the rumor mill, Harry & Meghan are looking into forming their own awards to commemorate those working hard to help those less fortunate. However, Queen Elizabeth II has her own honor awards she gives out yearly to celebrate the same thing.
Queen Elizabeth II’s Birthday Honors
Once a year, to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday, citizens of the UK and its commonwealth realms are honored with various titles due to their service. Ranging from knighthoods to becoming a Member of the Order of the British Royal Empire, hundreds of citizens are honored with these awards.
The Birthday Honors are traditionally given out in June, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Birthday Honors were awarded in October. While the Birthday Honors are not the only ceremony where Queen Elizabeth II gives out these titles, this ceremony tends to be the biggest of them all.
If you see a prominent British figure with OBE or CBE at the end of their name, it means they received an honor from the Queen during one of the two ceremonies. Celebrities who have been awarded the OBE include Ed Sheeran, David Beckham, and Keira Knightley.
How Prince Harry & Meghan may compete
Considering Prince Harry & Meghan are part of the royal family, it’s obvious they wouldn’t qualify to receive one of the Birthday Honors. However, rumors are swirling about the Duke & Duchess of Sussex trying to create their own version of the birthday honors.
The Sun was the first to publish such rumors. They claimed Prince Harry & Meghan publicized such plans when they were filing trademark papers for Archewell. Furthermore, the tabloid claimed trademark paperwork for Archewell was allegedly filled out incorrectly.
Looking to clear the air, Prince Harry & Meghan released a statement through Archewell to clear the air about the true nature of their charitable organization.
Revealing Archewell’s true meaning
In their statement, the Duke & Duchess of Sussex didn’t reveal anymore about Archewell’s purpose, but made it clear they don’t plan to compete with the Queen. “We look forward to sharing more about Archewell’s work in the weeks ahead but any suggestion that it is intended to rival the UK honors list is false.”
“Furthermore, the trademark application has followed the normal course of business for the U.S. Trademark process and any suggestion otherwise is also false.” Prince Harry & Meghan rarely respond to tabloid rumors, so this statement through Archewell is historic.
The true purpose of Archewell
In April of this year, Prince Harry and Meghan announced the creation of their charity Archewell. Due to COVID-19, the organization has taken longer than planned to launch, but the website for Archewell went live in October.
The purpose of Prince Harry & Meghan Markle’s non-profit has been kept under wraps for the most part. A source close to the couple told Bazaar Prince Harry & Meghan “have had the opportunity to speak with some incredible thought leaders, and those conversations have been deeply educational and helpful in identifying the work they want to with Archewell.”
Outside of that, there’s little known to the public about what Prince Harry & Meghan want to accomplish through Archewell. At this point, the only thing we know is Archewell is not giving out awards to those helping benefit their communities. When Archewell launches in 2021, we’ll see for certain what Prince Harry & Meghan will do with the nonprofit organization.
