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Royal Family Custody Provision
In British law, there is a provision called The Grand Opinion for the Prerogative Concerning the Royal Family. If custody of Archie were ever to become an issue, Prince Charles could get the child.
To be clear, there are no suggestions that Charles is looking to take custody of Archie. However, you never know what will happen in the future.
Sovereign Has Custody of Grandchildren
According to Heavy, British law states that the sovereign has custody of grandchildren. Due to Queen Elizabeth being a great-grandparent, she couldn’t apply for custody. However, when her reign ends and Charles becomes king, then he could get custody of Archie if he chose to do so.
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The Hague Convention
There is a complication with this, though. Harry and Meghan are moving part-time to Canada, so they would be residents of two different countries. Which laws would a custody court go by? There is an international treaty called The Hague Convention. Signed by over 80 countries, including the UK, it states custody decisions be made by a court in the child’s home country.
Making it even more complicated is the fact that Meghan is American. As for Archie, USA Today reports that Archie has dual citizenship of both the United States and the UK.
Canada’s International Custody Law
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Since Harry and Meghan are moving to Canada with Archie, how would they determine which country is Archie’s “home base?” If their time is truly split 50/50 that would make it very difficult. However, chances are slim that they would spend exactly half the year in one country. It is usually a little higher or lower, even if only by a few percentage points. Even so, a tiny variance like 49% in Britain and 51% in Canada would determine Archie’s home.
Canada also has new guidelines when it comes to international custody disputes. Many factors come into play besides the time when it comes to determining a child’s home country. Examples include child’s links to a certain country, circumstances of movement, duration, conditions, and reasons for staying in a particular country.
It definitely sounds like this would be a complicated legal mess that would take months to resolve in court, if not longer. Thankfully, Prince Charles has expressed no interest in taking custody away from Harry and Meghan.
Be sure to catch up on everything happening with Prince Charles right now. Come back here often for Royals news, updates and rumors!