A royal expert has claimed that the Queen would likely be “unhappy” that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry used her family pet name “Lilibet” to name their daughter after being “rude about her.”
During an appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, royal author Angela Levin said the name “Lilibet” was the Queen’s private pet name and that she likely found it “demeaning” that the Sussexes chose to use the name after bashing her publicly.
The Queen’s grandfather, King George V, reportedly nicknamed her Lilibet. The Queen was unable to properly pronounce her name when she was a toddler and would say “Lilibet” instead of “Elizabeth.”
Only the Queen’s late husband, Prince Philip, continued to call her “Lilibet” later in life, according to Levin.
“I think she (the Queen) is desperately unhappy because they were desperately rude about her,” Levin said, according to the Daily Mail. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. I think it’s quite rude to her Majesty the Queen.”
Levin went on to say it was “demeaning” that the Sussexes used the name because “it was a very private nickname from her husband who hasn’t been dead for very long.”
The Queen would likely be ‘confused’ that Meghan and Harry named their daughter Lilibet
Levin was not the only royal watcher who criticized the Sussexes for naming their child Lilibet.
Writing in The Sun, royal commentator Ingrid Seward said that while Queen “will be pleased,” she would also be “perhaps a little confused” by the decision of the Sussexes to use her childhood nickname for their daughter, following the series of attacks against her and the Royal Family.
“[Lilibet] was affectionately used by only her parents and her husband,” Seward said. “But I am certain she will be pleased and perhaps a little confused that Prince Harry has decided to use this name.”
Seward also suggested the Queen would disprove the Sussexes using her nickname because she has a “healthy disregard for nicknames.”
In comments published in the Daily Mail, Piers Morgan claimed it was “ironic” that the Sussexes named their daughter in honor of the Queen after “trashing” her and the Royal Family for months.
Meghan and Harry also named their daughter after Princess Diana
Meghan and Harry gave their daughter the middle name Diana in honor of her paternal grandmother, the Princess of Wales, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 at the age of 36.
Meghan and Harry announced the birth of Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor on their Archewell website.
Lilibet was born at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital on Friday, June 4, at 11:40 a.m., weighing 7lb 11 oz.
“On June 4th, we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter, Lili. She is more than we could have ever imagined, and we remain grateful for the love and prayers we’ve felt from across the globe,” the Sussexes wrote.
“Both mother and child are healthy and well, and settling in at home,” the statement published on the Archewell website read.
Lilibet is the Sussexes’ second child. Her two-year-old big brother, Archie, was born on May 6, 2019.