Archie Harrison, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s firstborn child, was born in 2019 while they were still members of the Royal Family.
Nevertheless, in June of 2021, long after they had given up their royal titles and relocated to California, they welcomed a daughter named Lilibet Diana.
Harry and Meghan have preserved their royal titles but rarely use them. Nonetheless, both parents penned their names extremely differently on Lilibet Diana’s birth certificate.
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Lilibet Diana’s Birth Certificate and Namesakes
According to her birth certificate, Lili was born at 11:40 a.m. on June 4 at the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
The Duke of Sussex and His Royal Highness were the titles that Prince Harry had written down for himself. Meanwhile, Meghan just signed her name, “Rachel Meghan Markle,” not include her royal title.
In contrast, Harry and Meghan signed Archie’s birth certificate as “His Royal Highness Henry Charles Albert David, Duke of Sussex” and “Rachel Meghan, Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Sussex.” They listed “Prince” and “Princess of the United Kingdom” as their jobs on this document, despite the fact that Meghan was never formally elevated to the princess rank.
The parents’ jobs are not included on California birth certificates.
Lilibet Her great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, was known by her nickname, Lilibet, thus Diana is named after her.
The middle name Diana is in tribute to Prince Harry’s mother.
In September 2022, when Prince Charles ascended to the throne, Lilibet and Archie were officially recognized as royalty in the United Kingdom. Yet in her revealing interview with Oprah, Meghan said her kids could decide for themselves if they wanted to be royal.
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She explained: “Even though I have a lot of clarity of what comes with the titles good and bad… That is their birthright to then make a choice about.” That’s a privilege they’ve earned from birth, and they get to exercise it however they see fit.
Harry and Meghan agreed with Queen Elizabeth that they would not use their titles of “His and Her Highness” once they stepped down from royal duties.
A statement released by Buckingham Palace at the time read: “The Sussexes will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the Royal Family.”
Not long after, HRH was removed from Prince Harry’s Kensington Palace exhibit honoring Princess Diana.
When the exhibit first opened, a placard reading “Lent by HRH The Duke of Cambridge and HRH The Duke of Sussex” was displayed.
Lent by HRH The Duke of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex is now printed on the label.
Lili and Her Family
Lilibet Diana finally got to see her great-grandmother at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration in June 2022.
Prior to the Invictus Games in April, her parents had visited the United Kingdom, where they met with Queen Elizabeth. “Being with her, it was great. It was just so nice to see her,” Harry shared during an interview with Today at the time. “She’s in great form. She’s always got a great sense of humor with me… It was really nice to catch up with her.”
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The Netflix documentary series about Meghan and Harry also featured Lili. She sits near to some of the family pets as Harry tells her a story.
“What’s most important for the two of us is to make sure that we don’t repeat the same mistakes that perhaps our parents made,” Harry said over narration.
Meghan explained that the desire to have a big family she had when she was a kid came from her upbringing.
“When I look back at my own childhood, it was great, but I just remember feeling alone a lot,” she said. “I just wanted all of these cousins, and these people, I just wanted all of that – and I didn’t have that big family. So when I was pregnant with Archie, I was just so excited that we were going to be able to create for him that thing that I had always wanted.”