Meghan Markle secretly removed her name, Rachel Meghan, from Archie’s birth certificate back in 2019, according to U.K. tabloid media reports.
She reportedly removed her names from the section of the birth document where the mother’s name appears, leaving only her official title, “Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Sussex.”
Some speculated that she made the change in a nod to Princess Diana who reportedly preferred to use her title, “Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales.”
The Sun reported it was likely a snub to Prince William and Kate Middleton, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge reportedly included Kate Middleton’s names on their children’s birth certificates.
Megan Markle and Prince Harry, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, welcomed their first and only son Archie on May 6, 2019.
The baby’s birth was officially registered on May 17, 2019. Meghan changed her name on the birth certificate on June 5, according to The Sun.
The change was made at a time that rumors about a rift between the Cambridges and the Sussexes began circulating in the media.
The Sussexes quit their joint charity with the Cambridges shortly afterward.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle officially announced their intention to quit the Royal Family in January 2020, only months after Markle reportedly made the birth document change.
They relocated to Santa Barabara, California in July 2020 after they quit royal life.
The media dubbed the Sussexes’ exit from the Royal Family “Megxit.”
Royal experts described Markle’s name change as ‘extraordinary’ and ‘unprecedented’
Meghan Markle’s decision to remove her name from their son’s birth certificate has raised a lot of questions, with some royal experts describing it as “extraordinary” and “unprecedented.”
“It is extraordinary and raises all kinds of questions about what the Sussexes were thinking,” Lady Colin Campbell, a Royal Family biographer, reportedly said, according to the Daily Mail.
“Maybe this was an early part of their plan,” Dickie Arbiter, ex-press secretary to the Queen speculated.
“For a royal to change a birth certificate is unprecedented but to remove forenames is remarkable,” royal expert Ingrid Seward said. “Perhaps this is another sign they were desperate to do something different to the Cambridges.”
Prince Harry was reportedly ‘heartbroken’ over Megxit
The latest news comes after Monsters and Critics reported that journalist Tom Bradby revealed that Prince Harry was “heartbroken” over Megxit.
Bradby made the revelation during an episode of ITV’s Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh.
According to Bradby, although Prince Harry and Meghan were happy and content after Megxit, Harry was not happy about the tensions that Megxit caused between him and members of the Royal Family.