Sussex ex Royal Sour Grapes

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have caved to pressure from the British throne and abandoned their "Sussex Royal" brand. That seems only reasonable since they apparently wish to have nothing to do with the British Royal Family business. Perhaps Prince Harry will drop the Prince too, which would have the advantage of making him eligible for citizenship in Canada where he and Meghan are presently residing. 

Meantime, though, there is a certain sourness in the tone of an announcement on the "Sussex Royal" website concerning the planned change in branding:

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.

Bizarrely, the statement also includes the following:

As agreed and set out in January, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will retain their “HRH” prefix, thereby formally remaining known as His Royal Highness The Duke of Sussex and Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will no longer actively use their HRH titles as they will no longer be working members of the family as of Spring 2020.

Um, so they are to be known as His and Her Royal Highness, while not actively using the His and Her Royal Highness appellations, which is only sensible since, in Canada where they presently reside, foreign titles are not recognized. [There is no exception in the case of Canada's Head of State, Queen Elizabeth II either, since the Queen is, by a 1953 Act of the Parliament of Canada, Queen of Canada, and hence the only person with a legally recognized Canadian title.]

But what, then, are we supposed to call this troubled and somewhat troublesome pair? Mr. and Mrs. Battenberg (the original name of the British Royal family)? Sounds good. A very suitable family name for recent immigrants to Canada. Should fit in well with the existing mix of odds and ends of European humanity who make up most of the Canadian population.

But how then will plain Mr. and Mrs. B  make a living? For now that seems to remain an open to question, but Harry could perhaps earn a bit, as  an advocate for a baldness cure. Meantime, taking advantage of the family name, Mrs. B's charming face could perhaps grace advertisements for a commercial variant of the Battenburg cake, invented to celebrate the wedding of Princess Beatrice, youngest daughter of Queen Victoria, who married Prince Henry of Battenberg, from whom the present Royal family derived its name (now Anglicized to Mountbatten).

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