'Ruthless' King Charles Could Strip Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Of Royal Titles: Royal Expert

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will put their royal titles at risk if they continue to drop bombshells about the royal family, a royal expert has.

Vanity Fair royal editor Katie Nicholl, author of "The New Royals," shared her thoughts on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's upcoming media projects amid reports that the couple has delayed the release of their Netflix docuseries. Prince Harry's memoir was also pushed back to 2023 in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II's death on Sept. 8.

The royal expert said she believes that Prince Harry's father King Charles III could retaliate if the Sussexes' upcoming projects trash him or other senior royals.

"From their past ventures, looking at [their Oprah Winfrey interview], they're not afraid to be critical of the institution. There have been some pretty low blows," Nicholl said of Prince Harry and Markle on GB News. "But I'm hearing from my sources, and I think this might be at the root of it, that we could be prepared to see the King's ruthless side in all of this."

She continued, "Charles is not going to stand back and let the family or the institution or the reputation of the crown, which is everything to him, be tarnished or indeed trashed."

When pressed about her comment regarding the King's "ruthless side," Nicholl claimed that it is "no coincidence" that no royal titles have been announced yet for Prince Harry and Markle's children, Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1, who became entitled to prince and princess titles after the Queen died and their grandfather Charles became monarch.

"I think that whole issue of titles is up for discussion," Nicholl said. "That trust, that respect has to be earned. I don't think they're going to get those titles if they're seen to be tarnishing the institution. And I think perhaps there might be a question mark over the future of Harry and Meghan's titles, potentially, if they are seen to be deliberately tarnishing the reputation of the monarchy. Absolutely."

International Business Times could not independently verify Nicholl's claims.

Following Queen Elizabeth's passing, Prince Harry and Markle allegedly wanted to edit the content of their Netflix docuseries, which could push back its release to later in 2023, Page Six reported.

The couple wants to remove or downplay most of what they have said about King Charles III, Queen Consort Camilla, Prince William and his wife Kate, the new Princess of Wales, unnamed sources told the outlet.

Prince Harry's biographer Angela Levin claimed that there have been speculations that the couple is eager to revise the docuseries so that they won't be excluded from King Charles' coronation next year.

Earlier this week, Deadline reported, citing an unnamed insider, that Netflix was "rattled" by the attacks on the recently released fifth season of "The Crown," so it decided to postpone the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's docuseries until next year.

Initially, the streaming giant wanted to tie the docuseries with "The Crown" and release it in December, according to the outlet.

However, a highly-placed industry insider told Page Six that Netflix bosses still plan to release Prince Harry and Markle's docuseries within this year.

"As far as I am aware, the docu-series is still going ahead later this year," the unnamed insider said.

Netflix has not announced an official release date yet.