Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are unlikely to have their titles stripped by a "careful" King Charles as it would "light touch paper", a former royal butler has claimed.

A new book alleged that the stripping of Harry and Meghan's Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles had been "discussed at the highest level".

It came after the pair sensationally quit as working royals three years ago and then went on to make a series of attacks on their royal relatives in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, in their Netflix series and in Harry's controversial memoir Spare.

In addition, they've also decided to let their children Archie and Lilibet use prince and princess titles now they are entitled to them as grandchildren of the monarch.

Harry and Meghan, who are no longer working royals (
Image:
Getty Images for the Invictus Ga)

But despite the issue being discussed, Paul Burrell, a former royal butler to the late Queen and Princess Diana, says he can't see the King taking titles away.

Paul, who was also criticised by Harry in Spare, said: "It's the King's decision, he does not want to light a fire underneath Harry and Meghan. He doesn't want to light the blue touch paper and watch the fireworks go off.

"The King is very careful, he has been very careful by handling Meghan and Harry the way he has. He sent them the invitations, he's kept the moral high ground and he's doing the right thing.

King Charles' Coronation on May 6 will be the first in 70 years (
Image:
PA)

"I don't think he will take away their titles, I think other people want him to but other people didn't want him to invite them to the Coronation. The King will do it his way, he has a very straight way of dealing with things and he knows his own mind.

"He's not being swayed or told by anybody what to do, it's his way. Charles has always been like that, he's always had his way and been very focused so no he won't take the titles.

Harry with his father last year (
Image:
POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

"He could have, or the late Queen could've changed the rules so that Meghan and Harry's children weren't princes and princesses, but they didn’t. They didn’t mess with it because that would have been incendiary. That would’ve lit a blue touch paper too.

"The King’s matches are safely away in his pocket, he’s not using them to light any fires. He doesn’t want any trouble around the coronation, much the same as the Queen. A smooth, smooth passage, as smooth as possible."

Meanwhile, Charles' dilemma over Harry and Meghan is something he is experiencing the same as the late Queen, according to Burrell.

Speaking on behalf of Spin Genie, he added: "I feel sorry for the King, he has to walk a very strange tightrope, thinking about what will the people say on one hand because he’s King and on the other hand, what do I feel as Harry's father.

"So now he's witnessing what the Queen had all her life, this dilemma of splitting family and people because you can’t always do both and the Queen found herself in dilemmas sometimes between family and the people.

"When you're monarch you really have to put the people first and this is going to be a hard lesson for the King and he's not had this problem in the past because he hasn't been monarch but now the weight is fully on his shoulders."