Prince William and Kate’s Refusal to Use Harry and Meghan’s Daughter Lilibet’s Name in Post Shows They Disapproved of Sussexes Taking Queen’s Nickname
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, welcomed their second child in 2021. After months of speculation about what they would name their daughter, the couple shared her full name Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. While her middle name is a tribute to the duke’s late mother, Princess Diana, her first name immediately drew ire from some royal watchers who recall that “Lilibet” was actually Queen Elizabeth’s personal family nickname.
It’s what the late queen used to call herself when she was a toddler and couldn’t quite pronounce her name. The moniker was used over the years by the queen’s close friends and relatives including her father King George VI, her sister Princess Margaret, and her husband Prince Philip.
There was then a bit of back and forth about whether Meghan and Harry asked the queen about using the name before they chose to give it to their daughter. At the time, a spokesperson for the Sussexes claimed that they did and got her blessing. However, Palace sources later countered that and claimed they did not and the monarch was upset with them for using her childhood name.
Now, a biography about Queen Elizabeth’s death and King Charles’ ascension to the throne has brought the Princess Lilibet name drama back into the headlines. According to the book, the queen was very angry upon learning what the Sussexes had named their daughter. And it’s believed she’s not the only one.
Biography claims Queen Elizabeth was furious when Sussexes named their daughter Lilibet
In the book Charles III: New King, New Court, The Inside Story, author Robert Hardman said that one of the queen’s staffers told him the late monarch was “as angry as I’d ever seen her” after she was informed that Harry and Meghan were using her nickname and were acting as if she supported it.
“When the Sussexes tried to co-opt the Palace into propping up their version of events, they were rebuffed,” Hardman wrote (per Daily Mail). “Once again, it was a case of ‘recollections may vary,’ the late queen’s reaction to the Oprah Winfrey interview, as far as Her Majesty was concerned.”
And a resurfaced post has many fans convinced other royals weren’t happy about the name choice either.
Sign Prince William and Kate weren’t happy with Meghan and Harry using that name
After Lilibet’s birth, the royals did as they normally do and sent congratulatory messages on the birth of the newest family member.
However, Prince William and the now-Princess of Wales’ (formerly Kate Middleton) did not use the name Lilibet in their social media post. The message on the couple’s X account, known then as Twitter, read: “We are all delighted by the happy news of the arrival of baby Lili. Congratulations to Harry, Meghan and Archie.”
Looking back many fans now believe that the wording, just as most things the royal family does, was deliberate. They note that William and Kate chose to use “Lili” instead of the queen’s nickname Lilibet. While Harry and Meghan had said that they were going to call their daughter Lili for short, several fans think that Waleses were sending a signal that they were only going to call her Lili as well since they didn’t agree with taking Queen Elizabeth’s childhood name.
