Over the weekend, reports came out that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, a.k.a. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, had their son Archie’s birth certificate changed – and, somehow, it has something to do with the tension between the Sussexes and the Cambridges, namely, Prince William and Kate Middleton.
According to The Sun, the royal couple have “taken the unprecedented action of removing” her first and middle names – removing “Rachel Meghan” from the document – to leave just her title, “Her Royal Highness The Duchess Of Sussex” in the mother category. The outlet also reported that “Prince” had been added to Prince Harry’s name to complete his title of “His Royal Highness Prince Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex.”
Apparently, the changes were made in June 2019 – a month after the couple welcomed their first child. And, the outlet claims that the whole changing the name thing was a big deal because it could be seen as a “snub” to Kate, who used her formal name, Catherine, in the birth certificates of her three children. Plus, it could also be viewed as Prince Harry aligning Meghan with his late mother Princess Diana, who used just her title “Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales” on the Prince William and Prince Harry’s birth certificates.
However, a spokesperson for Meghan is slamming these claims.
“The change of name on public documents in 2019 was dictated by The Palace, as confirmed by documents from senior Palace officials,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “This was not requested by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex nor by The Duke of Sussex.”
“To see this U.K. tabloid and their carnival of so-called ‘experts’ chose to deceptively whip this into a calculated family ‘snub’ and suggest that she would oddly want to be nameless on her child’s birth certificate, or any other legal document, would be laughable were it not offensive,” Meghan’s spokesperson continued. “There’s a lot going on in the world; let’s focus on that rather than creating clickbait.”
Buckingham Palace is yet to respond to requests for comment.
In spring of 2020, the Sussexes stepped down from their duties as senior members of the royal family. As part of the agreement of their exit, the couple agreed to give up their “Royal Highness” titles. They’ve since left the U.K. and settled in California. All these happened amid rumors of a rift between the Sussexes and the Cambridges.
However, according to royal expert Katie Nicholl Prince Harry and Prince William’s relationship has improved a lot – they’re on talking terms again and the brothers reconnected over the holidays.
