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When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced the name of their daughter Lilibet, millions applauded the adorable tribute to Harry’s grandmother.
Lilibet was the nickname used by Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, Prince Philip, and Harry and Meghan likely believed that they were paying tribute to the monarch in moving fashion.
But according to one royal expert, the couple was dead wrong.
Hugo Vickers is a royal historian who’s currently promoting his new book, titled Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History.
During a recent appearance on the “Daily T “podcast, Vickers lashed out at Harry and Meghan for naming their daughter after the queen’s intimate nickname.
“Wasn’t it rather sweet for them to call their daughter Lilibet after the queen’s name?” host Camilla Tominey asked.
“Oh, well, that was odious,” Vickers replied, adding:
“To use the queen’s name that was used by her actual private family? No. That’s absolutely shocking.”
As Vickers and others have noted, the name did not originate with Philip, but rather with Elizabeth’s father, King George VI.
The name stemmed from the queen’s inability to pronounce “Elizabeth” when she was a young child.
“Lilibet is my pride. Margaret is my joy,” George famously quipped when both the queen and her sister, Princess Margaret, were in their youth.
When Philip passed away in 2021, at the age of 99, Elizabeth placed a note atop his coffin that read, “In loving memory, Lilibet.”
Many royal observers believed that that would be the last time the queen’s intimate nickname would ever be used in a public setting.
So it came as quite a shock when Harry and Meghan announced just two months later that they had christened their daughter with the moniker.
While Lilibet was just a nickname for the queen, Harry and Meghan’s daughter is legally named Lilibet Diana.
The queen never spoke publicly about the name, but there have been rumors that she was not as honored as Harry and Meghan hoped she would be.
The decision probably was not as controversial as Vickers is making out to be, but it does seem that Harry and Meghan did not consult the queen before choosing their daughter’s name.
