The declaration of Prince Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex that America is his home is no noteworthy. News broke today that Prince Harry, fifth in line to the throne, recently made that declaration to Britain’s registrar, Companies House. California will now be his address for all correspondence related to a business enterprise of his, Travalyst Limited. It’ll let the rest of the world know where Harry calls home.    

A resident does not make a citizen, though. Prince Harry told ABC News in November that becoming an American is a “thought that has crossed my mind but it’s not a high priority for me right now.” Our columnist Dean Karayanis has reported on the travails the prince could endure on the road to securing the coveted paperwork. His marriage to Meghan Markle could provide a viridescent visa. There are also other privileged pathways.

Even the rebellious redhead, though, could balk at saying the words absent which he cannot become an American. That reads, in part, “I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.” Yet Prince Harry is a “foreign prince.” His brother is the Prince of Wales, and his father is the Sovereign.

If the prince said those words, we imagine the ghost of his great-great uncle, the king known for a time as Edward VIII, is likely nodding somewhere in the abdication afterlife. There have been earlier abdicants, like Mary Queen of Scots, though that was hardly voluntary. In ancient Anglo-Saxon times, Centwine and his successor Caedwalla passed on the purple to cleave more closely to the Church of Rome.

How different are the words sworn by naturalized Britons. The Promissory Oaths Act 1868 set the script, which is adapted for each monarch. Today’s version comprises the promise to “be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God.” The prince, famously, is more spare than heir, but we imagine that allegiance to his brother and cancer-stricken sister-in-law abides. 

The Constitution ordains that no titles of nobility be granted by either the federal or state governments. It is among the most stringent prohibitions in the parchment. In this spirit, the United States Code mandates that if a nobleman seeks citizenship, he must “make under oath in the same public ceremony in which the oath of allegiance is administered, an express renunciation of such title or order of nobility.” No more dukedoms, then.

If the prince decides to divest himself of his titles, he could take heart from Hamilton’s declaration in 84 Federalist that the prohibition “may truly be denominated the corner stone of republican government; for so long as they are excluded, there can never be serious danger that the government will be any other than that of the people.” Unlike the scrappy Kittitian, Ben Franklin didn’t mind the wearing of what he called a “Ribband and Badge.” 

Prince Harry and Ms. Markle, while still the Duke and Duchess of Sussex — for now —  are no strangers to shedding the raiments of royalty. They are no longer addressed as his or her royal highness, Buckingham Palace explains, now that “they are no longer working members of the Royal Family.” One scribe, Robert Jobson, reckons that they “could yet find themselves demoted to Mr. and Mrs. Mountbatten-Windsor of Montecito, California.”

The duke’s change in residency dates from June 29, 2023, when the Sussexes left Frogmore Cottage for the Golden State. Even as he dreams the golden dream, though, could he, with the sincerity required, swear to “absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure” the House of Windsor, into which he was born? His mother, Princess Diana, who, her biographer Tina Brown tells us, grew to love America, never went so far.