Prince Harry and Meghan Markle start copyrighting their Instagram photos to ‘The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’ after the Queen banned them from using ‘Sussex Royal’ in their branding
- Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan Markle, 38, have made subtle change to Instagram
- Couple have started to credit photographs to ‘The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’
- Up until a week ago, they attributed the copyright to the ‘Sussex Royal’ brand
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have started to copyright their Instagram photographs ‘The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’ following the Queen’s decision to ban them from using ‘Sussex Royal’ in their branding.
The couple took to the Sussex Royal Instagram account and shared a picture from Saturday, where they joined veterans, serving members, world-class musicians, composers and conductors of the Massed Bands of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines for the annual Mountbatten Festival of Music — an event to help raise funds on behalf of the Royal Marines Charity.
However, there was one subtle difference on their social media page – the copyright of the pictures had changed from previous, with the credit instead being attributed to ‘The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.’
It was a stark difference to just a week earlier, where a snap of Prince Harry launching a new eco-friendly travel firm in Edinburgh had been credited to ‘Sussex Royal’ – the last time the brand appears to have been used on their Instagram.
The Duke, 35, and Duchess of Sussex, 38, attributed this photograph of Prince Harry at the Travelyst conference in Edinburgh to the ‘SussexRoyal’ brand on February 26
The last time the couple used the ‘SussexRoyal’ trademark on their Instagram account was one week ago (pictured)
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex received a long round of applause and a standing ovation from the audience in the Royal Albert Hall in London as they took their seats at the Mountbatten Festival of Music
Following the event, the royal couple shared a photograph to their Instagram account alongside the credit: ‘The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’ (pictured)
Harry and Meghan first began using the Sussex Royal branding this time last year, after they split their household from that of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – known as Kensington Royal.
The Sussexes’ Instagram page, @sussexroyal, has amassed 11.2million followers – the same number of fans as William and Kate’s account.
But at the end of February, documents filed at the Intellectual Property Office showed a request to use the names Sussex Royal and Sussex Royal Foundation for commercial and charity activities in the UK had been removed.
It followed the Queen’s decision that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could not use the ‘Royal’ label after deciding to step down as working royals and move to North America.
The Sussex Royal Instagram account also credited this photograph, where Meghan Markle visited the Southbank theatre’s Immersive Storytelling Studio on 5 March, to ‘The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’
The couple first made the subtle Instagram account change two days ago, when they shared this photograph of Meghan Markle
A statement they released at the time struck a more hostile tone in some sections, and said that neither the government nor the Queen herself own the word ‘royal’ internationally – but they would nonetheless stop using the title.
The statement read: ‘While there is not any jurisdiction by The Monarchy or Cabinet Office over the use of the word ‘Royal’ overseas, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex do not intend to use ‘Sussex Royal’ or any iteration of the word ‘Royal’ in any territory (either within the UK or otherwise) when the transition occurs Spring 2020.’
Additionally, a statement issued by the palace stated that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will no longer use their HRH titles.
Meghan and Harry’s statement states, however, that they will keep the prefixes His and Her Royal Highness.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s new flashy website, sussexroyal.com, featuring their new branding