The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: How to address the royal couple, where they’ll live and more

From addressing them to their coat of arms, we run through a quick guide to the new duchy of Sussex

How to address the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex

According to Adam and Charles Black’s Titles and Forms of Address a royal prince or royal duke should always be addressed in the first instance as Your Royal Highness and subsequently Sir. Royal princesses or royal duchesses should be called Your Royal Highness in the first instance, and Ma’am thereafter. A letter should be addressed: “To His (or Her) Royal Highness the Duke (or Duchess) of Sussex.” It should start Sir or Madam, and be concluded with: “I have the honour to be Sir (or Madam), Your Royal Highness’s most humble and obedient servant.”

The Duke of Sussex’s other titles

On his wedding day Prince Harry was also granted the subsidiary titles of Earl of Dumbarton in Scotland and Baron Kilkeel in Northern Ireland.

Official residence

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s official residence is Kensington Palace.

The groups and charities the Duke of Sussex supports

The Duke of Sussex is an honorary member of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, honorary air commandant with Royal Air Force Honington, Captain General with the Royal Marines, Commodore-in-chief of the Royal Navy Command’s Small Ships and Diving, president of African Parks, Youth Ambassador to the Commonwealth and Honorary Life Member of the Royal Ontario Museum. He is patron of the Rugby Football Union and Rugby Football League, Rugby Football Union Injured Players Foundation, Rugby Football Union All Schools Programme, Silverstone Heritage Experience/Motorsport World, Wellchild and the London Marathon. Internationally he is patron of Dolen Cymru and Sentebale which both support people in Lesotho, the Invictus Games Foundation, Mapaction, and Rhino Conservation Botswana. He is joint patron, alongside his brother the Duke of Cambridge, of the Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund, which supports projects to lift children out of poverty in Uganda, and is founder patron, with the Duchess of Sussex and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, of the Royal Foundation which focuses on programmes concerned with mental health, wildlife and conservation, young people and the armed forces community. Find out more at www.royalfoundation.com.

The Duchess of Sussex’s coat of arms

A coat of arms was created by Thomas Woodcock, garter king of arms and senior herald in England, for the Duchess of Sussex following her wedding. It is shown side-by-side with the Duke’s already existing shield and his supporter of a lion.

The design, which was approved by HM The Queen, is on a blue background representing the Pacific Ocean, with two golden rays symbolising the Californian sunshine. Three quills represent communication and the power of words. The grass supporting the shield features a mix of California’s state flower, the golden poppy, and the wintersweet which grows at Kensington Palace. It is supported on the right by a songbird with an open beak, again representing communication, with a coronet composed of two crosses patée, four fleur-de-lys and two strawberry leaves.