Harry and Meghan's extraordinary words to late Queen revealed
IN LONDON
New details about how Prince Harry and Meghan approached the late Queen about using her nickname for their daughter have surfaced after some telling remarks in the Duchess of Sussex's recent podcast finale.
In June 2021, the couple announced the birth of their second child, whom they called Lilibet in a nod to what close family had called the late monarch from childhood.
Harry and Meghan insisted that she had given her blessing, but it was later claimed by author Robert Hardman in his biography, King Charles III: The Inside Story, that she was furious at that assertion.
The duke and duchess later instructed their London-based law firm to issue a threatening legal letter to the BBC over a report claiming they had 'never asked' for the late Queen's permission to use 'Lilibet', calling it 'false and defamatory'.
However, rather than confirming their version of events, the UK's Telegraph reported at the time that the Palace refused to deny the BBC's suggestion.
The publication further added that the Queen was 'told' about the name after the baby was born.
Just last week, Meghan issued advice to expectant mothers about how to approach naming newborns, warning them never to tell anyone what they're planning on using.
'I will say this to every woman in the world or every person in the world who's going to have a child — if you have an idea about what you are going to name that baby, you keep it so close to your heart, until that baby is born and it's named. Don't ask anyone's opinion,' she said on her podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder.
Harry and Meghan are parents to Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 3.
A source has now backed up earlier claims to the Daily Mail that the couple had, in fact, only told the late Queen about the use of her name after the fact.
'Harry and Meghan presented this to the Queen as: 'We're going to call her Lilibet. Isn't that great?',' the insider said.
'The palace version was that they didn't ask. The Queen was asked to prop up their version of events that didn't match her own. She wasn't furious about using the name Lilibet, it was the way it was handled.'
Amid the earlier furore, a spokesman for the Sussexes told People magazine that '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.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
Meghan and Harry share rare footage from Lilibet's Disneyland birthday bash
Meghan and Harry have shared rare footage of their children enjoying Lilibet's birthday bash in Disneyland. The Duchess of Sussex can be seen in the Instagram post today wearing Minnie Mouse ears - while the young royal, who turned four last week, was presented with a Little Mermaid cake Prince Harry can also be seen in the video montage on various rides at the theme park in California, and at some points wearing Mickey Mouse ears. The 1946 song It's A Good Day by Peggy Lee is playing over the footage and snaps, including an in-ride photo of Harry and Meghan on the Space Mountain roller coaster. The Duchess captioned the video: 'Thank you @disneyland for giving our family two days of pure joy!' The footage was reminiscent of photos taken of the duke when he was eight and his mother Diana took him and William to Walt Disney World in Florida in 1993. The trio also took a trip to UK-theme park Alton Towers the following year. At the time, the royal siblings were photographed sitting at the front of a log on the Splash Mountain ride, with adults from their mother's entourage behind them and Diana seated at the back. The footage starts with Lilibet seen excitedly dragging her dad through the park entrance before she is given a special greeting by a Disney princess. Next, the whole family are seen on a log flume and then Lilibet appears on a Dumbo ride. A further snap shows Harry and Meghan standing with Archie as they watch a Star Wars stage show featuring Storm Troopers. Another video clip then sees Minnie and Mickey Mouse stuffed toys with 'Happy Birthday Lili' badges before another photo shows Harry beaming as he and his daughter ride a Buzz Lightyear-themed Star Cruiser ride. The two royal kids are then shown on a carousel before a snap shows the Ariel cake, which also says: 'Happy Birthday Lili.' A couple of in-ride photos show Harry, Archie and Meghan on the Cars-themed Radiator Springs Racers attraction - then mum and dad on the famous space coaster. A family snap sees Harry kneeling down to hug his son, six, while Meghan holds Lilibet's hand - with both kids' faces obscured by heart emojis. All the photos of the children in the collection show either the backs of their heads or have their faces covered. Lili – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's youngest child – was born on June 4 2021 and was named Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. Lilibet is named after her great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II. It comes after Meghan, 43, marked Lilibet's birthday on June 4 by posting a video of her in 2021 twerking in a hospital room in an effort to induce labour. While wild conspiracy theorists have branded it fake, experts say every pregnancy bump is different - whether it's large or small, high or low, wide or pointy, it's all completely normal. It's been suggested Meghan posted the video to quell rumours that her pregnancy was faked, and that she wore a prosthetic fake pregnant belly known as a 'moonbump'. Pip Davies, an NHS midwife and co-founder of Midwife Pip Podcast (@midwife_pip) told Sun Health it's completely normal for baby bumps to come in all shapes and sizes, especially as you near the end of pregnancy. She explained: 'Everybody carries differently, and factors like muscle tone, baby's position, and even your height can affect how your bump looks and this can change regularly with time of day, day on day or week on week.'
ABC News
10 hours ago
- ABC News
Human remains found in search for teen Pheobe Bishop
3h ago 3 hours ago Sat 7 Jun 2025 at 4:15am Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Play Duration: 1 minute 55 seconds 1 m 55 s
News.com.au
13 hours ago
- News.com.au
Painful story behind the new Harry Potter series
In any given week there are any number of images that are likely to elicit an Edvard Munch-y Scream but this week there was one photo, shot in a green and pleasant bit of England which could have doubled as a Wind In the Willows set, that should have set your hair on fire. In the image, three tweens crouch, broadly grinning for the camera, the trio having beaten out tens of thousands of other 9-11-year-olds to nab the lead roles in the New HBO remake of Harry Potter. Ohgodisthisagoodideareallyummmm…. Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton have been cast, respectively, as the Harry and his sidekicks Ron and Hermione, guaranteeing them fortunes, fame and never having to sit through year ten modern history should they not fancy. That day, they just might be in Cannes doing a quick red carpet or in Prague shooting Darron Aronofksy's newie. Ciao darling. I'm sure that for McLaughlin, Stout and Stanton it's a dream come true. They feel like golden ticket winners, the envy of kids the world over and are about to embark on an incredible adventure. But boring adult me looks at this publicity shot and wants to do some Munch-ing. Child stardom, historically, has a helluva chequered record. The announcement of McLaughlin, Stout and Stanton as the new faces of Harry Potter feels like the most double edged of swords going outside of a Roman military museum. On one hand, what child's dream would not be to get to skive off school to pretend to be a wizard all day while earning squillions? On the other hand, youthful fame is notorious for wreaking havoc and often coming with an extraordinarily high, lifelong cost. The most obvious casualties: Drew Barrymore, Cory Haim, Cory Feldman, Edward Furlong, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Tatum O'Neil, Macaulay Culkin, and Amanda Bynes. We could also probably add in Justin Bieber considering he seems to really be going through something right now. Hello, stints in rehab, reality TV, and even court, with the occasional caught-by-the-paps, head-shaving breakdown thrown in there too. For decades it has been clear that childhood stardom both arrests and speeds up the normal sort of emotional, psychological and social development that you are meant to go through as you leave childhood and awkwardly galumph into adulthood. We've known all of this since Ronald Reagan was eating all the red jelly beans out of his Oval Office jar and yet every generation there are new fresh-faced enthusiastic pre-teens who don't, who can't, quite realise what they are about to sacrifice. Look no further than the original Potter stars, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. They have all made clear that the actual acting on the eight original movies – the larking about on sets and the creative aspect of it all – was a real joy but that tremendous, global fame that came with it deeply affected them. Radcliffe, Watson and Grint might never have to worry about mortgage payments or how they can afford that ice cream truck they always wanted (Grint) but the life-altering reverberations of being cast in Potter are clear to this day. Radcliffe has, on a number of occasions, talked about how he started drinking heavily as a teenager to cope with it all. 'The quickest way to forget about the fact that you're being watched is to get very drunk,' he told Off Camera With Sam Jones in 2019. 'I was a recluse at 20. It was pathetic,' he told Shortlist in 2012. 'I'd stay in my apartment for days and drink alone.' During a Newsweek interview in 2022 he was clear: 'I wouldn't want fame for my kid.' Speaking to The Times in 2021, Grint said: 'I found it hard to deal with the fame side of things. If I ever do see Dan [Radcliffe] or Emma [Watson], fame is the one thing we never talk about.' Wade into the myriad of interviews Radcliffe, Watson and Grint have given over the years and the words they use to describe becoming global megastars so young are ones like 'scary', 'dehumanising', 'surreal and odd', 'weird' and 'vulnerable'. They have talked about feeling 'detached' from other teenagers. Grint said in 2018, when he would go back to his old school and see his peers, 'We had very little in common, which is quite isolating in a way.' Radcliffe, Watson and Grint won their roles in 2000 and yet here we are, 25 years later, and their careers and public identities are still indelibly shaped by a movie they started shooting a full year before 9/11 even happened. Smartphones didn't exist yet. Instagram had barely been invented when the final Potter movie came out. So, what will the future be like for McLaughlin, Stout and Stanton? They are about to embark on a project that will make them some of the most instantly recognisable teenagers in a world saturated by social media. How will they get through this unscathed? I'm sure their parents, HBO and every producer involved will do absolutely everything in their power to look after them; that they will all take every precaution and hire every child psychologist and adolescent specialist and on-set advocate to try and protect McLaughlin, Stout and Stanton as much as possible. But surely there is only so far a well-meaning studio and the most thoughtful and best of parents can go to shield them from real world consequences of their roles. Just think about what lies ahead. McLaughlin, Stout and Stanton will have to go through the profound, innate awkwardness of adolescence – the hormones, the physical and emotional changes – with People keeping a around-the-clock watch. Their faces will be on screens the world over. For a new generation, they will be Harry, Hermione and Ron. They will become immutable parts of the cultural furniture and nothing can ever change that. There will be no going back. They are making what could be a lifelong choice at 11. There will be at least one season per book, with the first out in 2026 meaning that, assuming there is one series per year, the final one could be screening in 2034. McLaughlin as the titular Harry will be 19-years-old by then. How will they be on the other side of this? I hope that what lies ahead for McLaughlin, Stout and Stanton is all the joy and fun and magic of bringing these characters to life. I hope against hope that they can somehow dodge having to walk the tough path that many other child stars have over the years. I hope. I so very dearly hope. And if all else fails, they can buy themselves an ice cream van I suppose.
