Palace offer of titles was to ‘make up for Sussex eviction’

BUCKINGHAM Palace offered to update the Sussex children’s titles online to make up for embarrassment over their eviction from Frogmore Cottage, friends have claimed.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex decided to use Archie and Lilibet’s prince and princess titles last year and shared their decision with the Palace.

However, they were frustrated that the Royal family failed to immediately recognise the children’s elevated status on its website following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, not least as the Prince and Princess of Wales’s titles, and those of their children, were swiftly changed.

There was no movement on the issue until a tabloid newspaper broke the news that the Sussexes had been asked to vacate their Windsor home. They had been asked to give up Frogmore Cottage in January, but the news did not become public knowledge on March 1.

The Sussexes only learnt then that the keys had been offered to the Duke of York. That day, the Palace offered to update its website with Archie and Lilibet’s new titles, it is understood.

One friend of the couple raised an eyebrow about the timing of such communication, which was interpreted as an attempt to curry favour or to smooth relations amid the public humiliation.

But palace aides are unlikely to have known that a week later on March 8, the couple planned to make a public statement about Lilibet’s christening – or that they would use the opportunity to confirm the use of Lilibet’s new title.

The website was not updated until Wednesday, when the Duke and Duchess made a public announcement, initially via People magazine, that their daughter had been christened in California.

A royal source insisted that they had always planned to wait until the Sussexes chose to reveal the news themselves, rather than make the announcement on their behalf. Buckingham Palace declined to comment.