Jon Bon Jovi Has a Clever New Nickname for Prince Harry
Names are a big deal for the members of the royal family. They demonstrate status, alignments, and power structures. When Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex stepped away from their royal duties, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex left many questions up in the air. Among those questions was what would happen to their titles and would their names change.
Amongst all of the more serious speculation about the outcomes of this unprecedented move, we now have a little levity. Jon Bon Jovi, who has been working with Prince Harry on a song collaboration, has given the outcasted royal a new nickname.
Prince Harry’s collaboration with Jon Bon Jovi is one of his final royal acts
While the rumors about Prince Harry and Meghan’s departure swirled for at least the past year, the announcement that they would officially be stepping back from their duties has been public for a few months.
Still, it takes time to untangle all of their responsibilities, and they are not officially out of the roles until April 1. That gives the pair time to wrap up impending projects.
One of those projects includes the somewhat unlikely work of Prince Harry working alongside rock star Jon Bon Jovi to create a song. The collaboration is part of a charity effort.
Bon Jovi went to Abbey Road Studio to re-record his song “Unbroken,” which was originally written to raise awareness about veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Proceeds from the new project will go to the Invictus Games Foundation.
Prince Harry’s new freedom is causing rifts with family
These last engagements as official royal duties — especially ones with high profile rock stars — are getting a lot of media attention, but that’s a source of frustration for the other members of the family who will not be exiting at the end of the month. In particular, Prince Harry and Meghan’s brief return to the U.K. overlapped with Prince William and Kate’s visit to Ireland.
The fear is that the coverage of the exiting couple will overshadow the important work of the Cambridges diplomatic efforts.
Prince Harry and Meghan are already facing some icy consequences of their decision, including being demanded not to use the word “royal” to describe themselves. These consequences include the removal of their “HRH” titles.
It will no longer be appropriate to refer to them as “His Royal Highness” and “Her Royal Highness.” However, Prince Harry is still a prince, and he still maintains his place in the line of succession to the throne.
Jon Bon Jovi has a new nickname for Prince Harry
While discussing their collaborative project, Bon Jovi poked a little fun at Prince Harry’s predicament. Prince Harry’s role in the collaboration was to sit in as a “senior member” of the royal family as a way to provide support to the charity effort. Bon Jovi joked that he was planning to “hand him a tambourine and see what he’s got going.”
Then he went on to say that he wasn’t sure how to refer to Prince Harry as they worked together. He said: “I’ve been asking, ‘What do I do? How do I address him?’ And then I realized I’m gonna call him ‘The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.'”
While, of course, the joke isn’t accurate — Prince Harry is now and forever a prince, something that’s determined by his birth and not his current duties — Bon Jovi has managed to add a little fun to what has been a tense situation for everyone involved. Prince Harry and Meghan have a 12-month review period. It’s possible that they could change their minds about their new roles, but only time will tell what arrangement will work best for everyone.
