Meghan Markle Branded as 'Egotistical' for Using Duchess of Sussex Title

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry left their senior-level positions in 2020, and the couple was quickly stripped of their HRH status. Since leaving the royal fold, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have gone on to denounce the institution, but they continue to utilize their titles.

A TikTok video put together clips of Meghan, Prince William, Kate Middleton and Princess Beatrice introducing themselves in public. Although the blood-born royals and the future queen proudly went by their first names, Meghan referred to herself as the Duchess of Sussex.

The social media user captioned the clip: "The egotistical one bigging herself up."

The Suits star's use of her duchess ranking has been heavily criticized since her "Megxit" scandal. OK! previously reported professor Pauline Maclaran urged the royal to use her maiden name when speaking on American politics and issues.

"When she was lobbying for parental leave she used her Duchess of Sussex title, and I don't think that was an appropriate move," the educator told an outlet. "To me that indicates she doesn't quite know where she is. She wants to use that title as a status symbol but, for a political route in the U.S., using a title is really rather ridiculous."

"It shows she wants to keep a foot in both camps," she added.

Maclaran later suggested that Meghan highlighted her career accomplishments instead of her marital status.

"She could have said she was co-founder of Archewell or an actress," she shared. "The royal title still seems to contribute to her sense of self and identity.

"I think it shows she hasn't got a clear direction," Maclaran concluded.

Royal expert Ingrid Seward attacked the Northwestern alum for profiting off of her proximity to the crown.

"Maybe I'm a bit old-fashioned but I really don't think a duchess who's married to the King's son should be going around promoting goods," Seward told an outlet. "I mean, everything she wears she's been given and she expects that and working princesses and duchesses would never do that."

"I'm actually now of the opinion and I never have been before that if she wants to do that, regenerate her lifestyle blog, she really should give up her title and just be Meghan Markle and forget the Duchess of Sussex and leave Harry well out of it," Seward noted.

While promoting his memoir, Spare, Anderson Cooper asked the Duke of Sussex why he hadn't dropped the formality.

“Why not renounce your titles as duke and duchess?” Cooper asked the prince.

“And what difference would that make?” Harry quickly responded.

Harry didn't hesitate to double down on his use of the duke moniker.

“One of the criticisms that you’ve received is that OK, fine, you want to move to California, you want to step back from the institutional role,” Cooper said. “Why be so public? Why reveal conversations you’ve had with your father or — with your brother? You say you tried to do this privately.”

“So now, trying to speak a language that perhaps they understand, I will sit here and speak truth to you with the words that come out of my mouth, rather than using someone else, an unnamed source, to feed in lies or a narrative to a tabloid media that literally radicalizes its readers to then potentially cause harm to my family, my wife, my kids,” Harry told the journalist.