Did Harry and Meghan call baby girl ‘Lilibet’ in bid to build bridges? Couple use Prince Philip’s nickname for the Queen as name for second child… after ‘truth bomb’ attacks left relations with the Palace ‘hanging by a thread’
- Harry and Meghan looked to family nickname for his grandmother the Queen to inspire name of second child
- Queen Elizabeth has been known as Lilibet since she was a young child unable to pronounce her own name
- Sweet nickname has since been used by family and was affectionate name used by late husband Prince Philip
- Harry and Meghan’s daughter will take middle name Diana to honour Harry’s mother who died when he was 12
The daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has been named Lilibet after the family nickname for the Queen, the baby’s great-grandmother.
Her middle name Diana was chosen to honour her beloved late grandmother, the Princess of Wales, the couple said, just weeks after Harry’s latest ‘truth bomb’ interview with Oprah Winfrey has left his relations with the Palace ‘hanging by a thread’.
Insiders also revealed ‘deeply hurt’ Prince Charles was ‘at a loss about what to do’ after Harry insinuated he and the Queen had failed as parents during the Me You Can’t See documentary on Apply TV which first aired last month.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s second child, sister to two-year-old Archie, was born at 11:40am at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, and is now ‘settling in at home’, the couple said.
In a message of thanks from Meghan and Harry on the Archewell website, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said: ‘On June 4, we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter, Lili.
‘She is more than we could have ever imagined, and we remain grateful for the love and prayers we’ve felt from across the globe. Thank you for your continued kindness and support during this very special time for our family.’
Their press secretary said: ‘The Duke and Duchess thank you for your warm wishes and prayers as they enjoy this special time as a family.’
Lilibet – the Queen’s family nickname – was first used when Princess Elizabeth was just a toddler and unable to pronounce her own name properly.
Her grandfather King George V would affectionately call her ‘Lilibet’ imitating her own attempts to say Elizabeth.
The sweet nickname stuck and she became Lilibet to her family from then on with her father King George VI often quoted as saying ‘Lilibet is my pride. Margaret is my joy.’
The Duchess of Sussex (pictured in February this year) has given birth to a daughter named Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, after the family nickname for the Queen and the duke’s mother Princess Diana, who died in 1997 when Harry was 12
Harry and Meghan looked to a family nickname for the Queen for inspiration for the name of their second child Lilibet just weeks after Harry criticised the parenting skills of his father and the Queen during the Me You Can’t See documentary
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s second child was born on Friday, June 4 at 11:40am at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara weighing 7lb 11oz. Pictured: Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and their baby son Archie
A statement from their press secretary said: ‘It is with great joy that Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, welcome their daughter, Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, to the world’
In a message of thanks on their Archewell website, Harry and Meghan said: ‘On June 4, we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter, Lili. She is more than we could have ever imagined, and we remain grateful for the love and prayers we’ve felt from across the globe. Thank you for your continued kindness and support during this very special time for our family’
The Duke of Edinburgh, who died in April aged 99, also referred to his wife as Lilibet, writing to his mother in law after their wedding: ‘Lilibet is the only ‘thing’ in the world which is absolutely real to me.’
Prince Philip, who is thought to be the last family member to use the affectionate nickname directly, also used it in letters written to Princess Elizabeth in the years leading up to their wedding in 1947.
Harry and Meghan’s new baby daughter – the Queen’s 11th great-grandchild – will be known as Lili.
A variation on Lily, the flower is often seen to symbolise purity, commitment, rebirth and fertility.
Lili’s middle name Diana honours Harry’s later mother Diana, Princess of Wales.
It is no surprise the couple chose to pay tribute to Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997 when Harry was just 12.
Lili has been born almost a month before the princess would have celebrated her 60th birthday on July 1.
Lili’s cousin Princess Charlotte also has Diana as one of her middle names, as well as Elizabeth. She is Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.
Anyone wishing to send a present is asked to support organisations working for women and girls.
A message on the Archewell website reads: ‘For those inquiring on sending gifts, we would ask that you support or learn more about these organisations working for women and girls: Girls Inc., Harvest Home, CAMFED or Myna Mahila Foundation.’
The new baby will be entitled to be a princess and Archie a prince – both with HRH styles – after the death of the Queen and when Charles becomes king. This is because they will have moved up the line of succession to become the children of a son of a monarch.
Despite Harry and Meghan quitting as senior working royals, the baby still has a place in the line of succession.
She is eighth in line to the throne, coming after Archie, who is seventh in line, and before the Duke of York, who has dropped to ninth place.
The new baby is also a first cousin of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis and a fifth grandchild for Charles, but will grow up across the Atlantic, thousands of miles away from the royal family – at a time of heartbreak and division within the Windsors.
Harry and Meghan revealed they were expecting a girl in March during their explosive tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey. It was a lighter moment during a series of bombshells that left the monarchy in crisis.
Meghan accused an unnamed member of the royal family – not the Queen nor Duke of Edinburgh – of racism, saying they expressed concern about how dark Archie’s skin tone might be before he was born.
The duchess also called out the institution for not helping her when she was suicidal.
The Queen responded by saying the issues were taken ‘very seriously’ but that ‘some recollections may vary’ and the matter would addressed by the family privately.
The Prince of Wales’ ties with his youngest son are ‘at their lowest ever point’ and he is sad that he was again painted as the villain in the Duke of Sussex’s latest explosive sit down with Oprah Winfrey. Pictured: At the Invictus Games in 2014
Prince Charles was said to be deeply hurt after Harry suggested he and the Queen had failed as parents. Pictured: Prince Charles (L), Princess Diana (R) and their children William (2nd L) and Harry attend the commemorations of VJ Day in 1995
Harry has gone on to accuse the royal family of ‘total neglect’ when his wife Meghan was feeling suicidal amid harassment on social media.
In his Apple TV mental health series with Winfrey he lambasted the parenting skills of the Prince of Wales, criticising his father for expecting his sons to endure the pressures of royal life, just as Charles has done, instead of protecting them.
The duke told Winfrey he felt ‘really let down’ by his father and how ‘there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened’ but he wanted to try to heal the relationship.
He said of his rift with his brother the Duke of Cambridge that the ‘relationship is ‘space’ at the moment’ and that he hoped time would make things better. The duke later appeared to suggest that his father and the Queen and Philip had failed as parents.
In his Apple TV mental health series with Winfrey (pictured) Prince Harry lambasted the parenting skills of his father Charles criticising him for expecting his sons to endure the pressures of royal life, just as Charles has done, instead of protecting them
Pictured: Prince Philip, Prince William, Earl Spencer, Prince Harry and Prince Charles walk behind Diana’s coffin at her funeral
Prince Charles was ‘deeply hurt’ by his son’s latest accusations as sources said the Royals ‘struggled to understand what he hopes to achieve’ with his continued barrage of attacks.
The Prince of Wales’ ties with his youngest son are reportedly ‘at their lowest ever point’ and he is sad he was again painted as the villain in the Duke of Sussex’s latest explosive sit down with Oprah Winfrey.
The 72-year-old ‘is at a loss about what to do’ but also ‘frustrated he cannot respond publicly’ to Harry’s blitz of accusations over his parenting style.
WHERE DOES HARRY AND MEGHAN’S DAUGHTER LILI FALL IN THE LINE OF SUCCESSION?
Lili is eighth in line to the throne. The first seven places remain unchanged – the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, Harry, and Archie Mountbatten-Windsor.
Harry retained his place in the line of succession despite quitting royal life, and dropping his HRH style.
With the arrival of Harry and Meghan’s new addition to the family, the Duke of York, who was born second in line in 1960, has moved down to ninth place.
Andrew stopped carrying out royal duties in 2019 following his controversial Newsnight interview over his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The baby girl has been named Lilibet after the Queen’s family nickname but she will be known as Lili. She has entered the line of succession behind her older brother Archie.
Andrew’s eldest daughter, Princess Beatrice, has moved to 10th in line.
His youngest, Princess Eugenie, has fallen out of the top 10 to become 11th in line, and her son August has moved to 12th place, the Earl of Wessex to 13th place and the Princess Royal to 16th.
There will be further changes in the autumn when Beatrice’s baby arrives and becomes 11th in line.
Lili is the Queen’s 11th great-grandchild, and the first of the monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh’s great-grandchildren to be born since Philip’s death in April.
The Queen’s great-grandchildren are: Savannah and Isla Phillips; George, Charlotte and Louis; Mia, Lena and Lucas Tindall; Archie and his sister, and August Brooksbank.
Beatrice’s son or daughter will become the monarch’s 12th great-grandchild. The Sussexes’ new baby will not require the Queen’s permission to marry.
For hundreds of years, the Royal Marriages Act 1772 meant descendants of George II had to seek the sovereign’s consent before they wed, otherwise their marriages were deemed invalid.
But this law was repealed through the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, which restricted the consent to just the first six people in the line of succession.
As the new baby is eighth in line, she will not at present need to seek a monarch’s approval to wed.
She might have to do so in the future though, when the Duke of Cambridge eventually becomes king and if there have been no further additions ahead of her in the succession line.
George III, George II’s grandson, had ordered the 1772 Act after his younger brother, the Duke of Cumberland, secretly married Lady Anne Horton, deemed to be a highly disreputable widow of a commoner.
Source: Read Full Article