Prince Harry and Meghan Markle welcomed their second child, Lilibet, in June 2021, and their decision to name their first daughter after Queen Elizabeth II’s nickname angered her so much that she “threw the newspaper” on the floor when she learned of it, according to a new book by a royal author, “The Windsor Legacy: A Royal Dynasty of Secrets, Scandals, and Survival.” It claims the anger was more likely fueled by how Her Majesty learned of the news—reading it in the newspapers along with the rest of the world. Despite claims at the time that she approved of the name, “a palace source has a different version of events, which is that the Queen first learned of the name Lilibet from the morning press and was so outraged by the insult that she threw the newspaper on the floor, alarming her staff.” A palace source said Harry had not consulted his grandmother about using her nickname for his daughter.
However, a spokesperson for the Sussexes denied this, sharing in a statement: “The Duke spoke to his family before the announcement—in fact, his grandmother was the first family member he called… During that conversation, he shared their hope to name their daughter Lilibet after her. If she had not supported them, they would not have used the name.” Another royal author, Robert Gardman, previously made similar claims regarding the Queen’s reaction in his biography, Charles III: New King, New Court: The Inside Story. In the book, he claims that a staffer reported the late monarch as “furious as ever” after the couple publicly stated that she “supported” the couple in using the name.
When Harry and Meghan announced the birth of their daughter, they stated, “Lily is named after her great-grandmother, Her Majesty the Queen, whose family nickname is Lilibet. Her middle name, Diana, was chosen in honor of her beloved late grandmother, the Princess of Wales.” It was well known that only those closest to Her Majesty used the nickname Lilibet, including her father, King George VI, who once said of his two daughters, “Lilibet is my pride. Margaret is my joy.”
A new book by Robert Jobson also claims that Harry and Meghan caused further friction with the late Queen during one of their final visits to the UK before her death in September 2022. He claims: “Later, during one of the Sussexes’ final visits to the UK before her death, they missed a scheduled tea party—a daily ritual so important to the Queen. Moreover, they missed it without telling her. She had ordered a special cake. At 5:15 p.m., without telling her, she ordered the staff to clear it away.” For their part, both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex maintained that their relationship with the Queen was positive before her death. After her death, Harry released a statement calling her his “guiding compass” and expressed gratitude for her support and legacy, saying he was “eternally grateful.”
