Over 30,000 sign petition ‘inviting’ Prince Harry to give up titles but plan backfires on social media

Over 30,000 people have signed a petition started by royal expert Lady Colin Campbell demanding that Prince Harry give up all royal titles to be able to indulge his personal beliefs without consequence to himself or the British monarchy.

It comes as the Duke of Sussex said mental health and climate change are “the two most pressing issues” society is facing,

Harry was speaking in The Me You Can’t See: A Path Forward, which was released on Apple TV in the early hours of Friday, in which the issues of self-harm and suicide were broached.

Earlier in the docuseries, Harry said he was “somewhat ashamed” of the way he dealt with Meghan sharing her suicidal thoughts before a charity event at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2019.

Harry picked up on a point raised by Jo Robinson, head of suicide prevention research at Orygen, about the importance of talking openly about suicide and self-harm.

Such communication helps give voice to something that’s “terribly distressing and terribly frightening for them to talk about”, she said.

The duke said: “I think it’s so interesting because so many people are afraid of being on the receiving end of that conversation (about suicide) because they don’t feel as though they have the right tools to be able to give the right advice but what you’re saying is you’re there.

“Listen, because listening and being part of that conversation is, without a doubt, the best first step that you can take.”

Petition

The purpose of the Change.org appeal is to invite Prince Harry to “voluntarily” ask the Queen to put his “royal style, titles and rank into abeyance.”

“The purpose is to invite Prince Harry to voluntarily ask The Queen to put his royal style, titles and rank into abeyance, thereby freeing him from the diplomatic, political and constitutional constraints that are an inevitable part of royal rank, and further freeing him from the constitutional conflicts which his beliefs are creating, with all their implications at home and abroad, in particular in the United Kingdom and the United States of America, where his articulated beliefs are in open conflict with the accepted tenets of both the United Kingdom and American Constitutions.

“As a purely private citizen, with no royal rank, style or title, he will be able to indulge his personal beliefs, as is the right of all private citizens, without the consequential possibility of damaging the institution of the Monarchy or relations between Friendly Powers, and will be free to articulate beliefs, no matter how objectionable, without the fallout that is otherwise inevitable as long as he possesses royal status. His invitation to The Sovereign, being of his own accord, will resolve conflicts that would otherwise be inevitable, and will permit him to enjoy the credit of having put both national and international interests above his own, personal ones, in the process gaining him respect that he otherwise will not enjoy.”