The Queen was reportedly furious at Harry and Meghan's claim she had given them her blessing to name their daughter Lilibet. Photos / AP, Misan Harriman
The Queen was reportedly furious at Harry and Meghan's claim she had given them her blessing to name their daughter Lilibet. Photos / AP, Misan Harriman
One of her staff members claimed the Queen was left “as angry as I’d ever seen her” after the Sussexes’ public statement that they would not have used the Queen’s childhood nickname unless she was “supportive”, reports the Daily Mail.
The couple had their law firm Schillings write to publishers and news outlets, including the BBC, saying the claims the Queen wasn’t asked for permission were untrue and defamatory.
The Queen is said to have been furious over Harry and Meghan's claims she gave her blessing on their use of her nickname Lilibet for their daughter. Photo / AP
However, Daily Mail writer Robert Hardman writes in his new biography King Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, that when the Sussexes tried to “co-opt” the palace into “propping up” their claims, they were “rebuffed”.
The revelation comes after Hardman shared a memo summing up the Queen’s final moments, now with the Royal Archives, recorded by her private secretary, who wrote that she had “slipped away” quietly after finishing her final box of paperwork and leaving two letters for her son.
Hardman writes that Harry and Meghan’s decision to name their second child Lilibet raised some eyebrows, as it was the Queen’s own childhood nickname.
The nickname, which came about because Elizabeth could not pronounce her own name as a child, was only used by her parents, King George VI and the Queen Mother, her sister Princess Margaret, her husband Prince Philip and a few close friends.
At the time, the BBC reported a palace source said the Queen had not been asked by the Sussexes whether they could use it.
Others told outlets including the Daily Mail that when called by her grandson and his wife, the Queen felt she could not say no. However, a spokesperson for the Sussexes doubled down on claims that they would not have used the name without the Queen’s support.
Meghan Markle with her husband Prince Harry and their children, Archie and Lilibet.
“The Duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement - in fact, his grandmother was the first family member he called.
“During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honour. Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name,” they said at the time.
Hardman adds the late Queen’s household was “interested” in the fact Harry left the naming debacle out of his memoir Spare, despite including other private information about the royal family.
“One privately recalled that Elizabeth II had been ‘as angry as I’d ever seen her’ in 2021 after the Sussexes announced that she had given them her blessing to call their baby daughter ‘Lilibet’, the Queen’s childhood nickname,” Hardman writes.
Harry, Meghan and their two children at Frogmore Cottage. Photo / Netflix
“The couple subsequently fired off warnings of legal action against anyone who dared to suggest otherwise, as the BBC had done. 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.
“Those noisy threats of legal action duly evaporated and the libel actions against the BBC never materialised.”
Hardman writes of Harry’s relationship with Charles that the King is “extremely sad” about where things stand with the Sussexes at present, adding that “there is a sense of exasperation”, according to one of his friends.
