Meghan Markle has been criticised on social media after it was revealed she had used the Her Royal Highness title – despite an agreement stating she wouldn’t

The Duchess of Sussex has been met with backlash online(Image: Netflix)

Meghan Markle has come under fire on social media after it appeared she had breached the Sandringham Summit. In 2020, the Duchess of Sussex and her husband Prince Harry announced they were stepping down as senior working royals – a move which hadn’t been seen since the abdication of King Edward VIII In 1936.

The Sussexes announced that they had planned to live a financially independent lifestyle away from the Royal Family but had hoped to represent Harry’s late gran, Queen Elizabeth, across the Commonwealth. But during a crisis summit with the late Queen, the then Prince Charles and Prince William – it emerged that this wouldn’t happen.

It was also during this 90 minute summit that the couple had managed to retain their His/Her Royal Highness title but were not allowed to use them. Now, the Duchess, 43, appears to have backtracked on this. The former actress, who now resides in Montecito with Harry, 40, and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet has used her HRH style.

Meghan sent a gift to a podcast host over a year ago and used the style ‘HRH The Duchess of Sussex’

In a new podcast, a picture is shown of a gift Meghan sent to a friend, with the words: “with compliments of HRH The Duchess of Sussex.” The basket in which the gift was in, was filled with homemade strawberry sauce and ice cream, was sent to podcast host Jamie Kern Lima over a year ago.

While no laws were officially passed during the Sandringham Summit, both Harry and Meghan publicly stated they wouldn’t use their HRH titles. In a statement on their official website at the time, they wrote: “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.” However, the Mirror understands that the Duchess does not use her HRH title for commercial purposes. Since the image emerged online, Meghan has been criticised.

A clip of the Duchess performing a ‘medieval curtsy’ has since resurfaced(Image: Netflix)

Sharing the image, one social media user said: “Meghan Markle proving yet again the distain she has for Queen Elizabeth, by signing a note with a HRH, something she was not supposed to do after leaving the royal family. Charles needs to stop letting this nonsense go and act.”

A second went on to type: “Imagine hating the royal family, dishing on senior royals and trashing the British monarchy at every opportunity… But then demand to be addressed with the titles given to you by the same royal family you hate and keep dining on.” Elsewhere, a third shared a clip of Meghan from her Netflix series with Prince Harry, showing the Duchess giving a “medieval” curtsy.

“Meghan Markle can claim she is nice and has nothing to prove but Meghan will never recover from this,” they said. The update comes after Meghan said on the podcast she is enjoying a new ‘honeymoon’ feeling with her husband since the pair got “a little bit of breathing space” after stepping back from their royal duties. Meghan said the couple struggled to fully enjoy one another’s company early in their relationship as they were quickly put into “the trenches” by the media spotlight.

The couple started dating in 2016 and went on to marry two years later and carried out a string of royal duties before their departure from royal life. Speaking on the podcast, the Duchess said: “You have to imagine at the beginning, everyone has, like, butterflies. Then we immediately went into the trenches together. Yeah, right out of the gate, like six months into dating.

“So now, seven years later, when you have a little bit of breathing space, you can just enjoy each other in a new way, and that’s why I feel like it’s more of a honeymoon period for us now.” The duchess praised her husband for keeping the family ‘safe’.