Queen Elizabeth Infuriated Over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Claim They Asked Permission to Name Their Daughter Lilibet
A new book claims Queen Elizabeth was infuriated over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s claims they asked permission to name their daughter Lilibet. Reports state the Duke of Sussex asked the monarch for her blessing, but that may not have been the whole truth. An aide close to the late queen states Elizabeth was “as angry as I’d ever seen her” upon learning of the news.
Queen Elizabeth was angry with Harry and Meghan’s version of events
The Daily Mail reports Queen Elizabeth was infuriated by reports Prince Harry and Meghan Markle said she gave her blessing to naming their daughter Lilibet. The news comes via Robert Hardman’s new book, Charles III: New King, New Court, The Inside Story.
A member of the queen’s staff told Hardman that she was “as angry as I’d ever seen her.” Her fury came after Harry and Meghan said they would not have used her private nickname if the queen did not support it.
“However, when the Sussexes tried to co-opt the Palace into propping up their version of events, they were rebuffed. 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,” Hardman’s book states.
The book also states Harry and Meghan called about their decision to name their daughter Lilibet. However, the monarch felt she was not in a position to tell them no over their name choice.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle did call the Queen, according to other reports
In June 2021, Page Six reported Prince Harry did call Queen Elizabeth to ask permission to name his first daughter Lilibet. Harry reportedly spoke to his grandmother before his wife, Meghan Markle, gave birth in Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital on June 4, 2021.
A royal source was quoted to say, “It will have likely been a call saying that she’s arrived, and we’d plan to name her after you. It’s not really something one can say no to. I doubt they asked. More likely informed.”
The couple shared a statement following their daughter’s birth. It read, “Lili is named after her great-grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen, whose family nickname is Lilibet. Her middle name, Diana, was chosen to honor her beloved late grandmother, The Princess of Wales.”
The couple has an older son, Prince Archie. He was born in May 2019.
Why was Queen Elizabeth called Lilibet?
Lilibet was the affectionate childhood nickname of the late queen. It was said to have come about as Elizabeth could never pronounce her name correctly as a child.
The nickname was only ever used by her parents, King George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, her sister, Princess Margare, her husband, Prince Philip, and a handful of close friends.
Philip, who died at 99 in April 2021, was the last to use that family nickname toward the queen. Upon his death, all of the queen’s older family members who knew her as a child were gone. The nickname left with Philip.
However, Elizabeth appeared to be the last person to use that nickname before Harry and Meghan named their daughter. She signed a card left atop Philip’s casket, “In loving memory, Lilibet.”
Queen Elizabeth died on Sept. 8, 2022. She was 96.
