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Did Harry and Meghan get Queen's approval to use Lilibet? Internet calls it 'hypocritical'

Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor arrived into this world, just a week ahead of what would have been her late great-grandfather, Prince Philip's 100th birthday

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were clearly not done dropping bombshells on the world with their Oprah Winfrey interview from March this year as they just left the world awed but stunned, by revealing the name of the newborn baby girl - Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.

Lilibet arrived into this world healthy, just a week ahead of what would have been her late great-grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip's 100th birthday. The newborn's name in the wake of the explosive claims made by her parents on the CBS tell-all interview has been dubbed as an attempt to repair the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's relationships with the royal family. But what has also sparked the general population's curiosity - at least on social media - is whether Harry and Meghan had taken the Queen's permission before naming their daughter after her majesty's most popular nickname.

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Harry and Meghan's daughter's name isn't hard to decipher. Unlike the other grandchildren of Prince Charles and the late Princess of Wales, Diana, Lilibet was named after a fond nickname Prince Philip called his wife of 70 years - passed down from the queen's father King George VI. The baby's middle name Diana is a direct nod to Harry's mum, whose life was cut short at 36 when she died in a car crash. Harry has been quite vocal about his mother's struggles - first as the wife of a senior royal, and subsequently as a former princess whose HRH title was stripped off, and a life marred with scandals following her divorce from Charles. There was already speculation surrounding whether the Sussexes would name their daughter Diana once they revealed their then-arriving baby's gender in the Winfrey interview on March 7. It was the Lilibet bit that nobody saw coming. 

While many have celebrated the adorable naming of Harry and Meghan's daughter, others have busied themselves in calling the couple hypocritical for the rift their bombshell allegations of racism caused between them and the rest of the royal family. Royal author Phil Dampier told The Sun: “Lilibet is such a personal name to the Queen you would hope they gave the palace the heads-up. I suspect Harry and Meghan have realized they’ve overdone their criticism in recent months and the penny has dropped that they’ve caused deep hurt to Harry’s gran and other family members.” The writer of 'Royally Suited: Harry and Meghan in their own words', also added: “They might be trying to undo some of the damage.”

'Sick' and 'patronizing'

Shortly after the Sussex couple announced Lilibet was born at 11:40 am PT on Friday, June 4, a source told The Sun: “Lilibet was a favorite nickname used by Prince Philip. It’s also been one of Harry’s favorites for years. During a royal engagement in Liverpool in 2019, when Meghan was pregnant with Archie, Harry asked someone in the crowd how she spelt her daughter’s name, Lily. She said Harry took great interest in it and suggested he was keen on giving it to his own daughter one day.” But while it could also be a touching reminder of the Lily of the Valley flowers Meghan's bridesmaids wore during her and Harry's 2018 May royal wedding, social media has been left with outrage, calling the couple hypocritical for naming their daughter after the Queen. 

"A tad hypocritical to name one's child after one you criticize as being 'racist' and passing on 'genetic neglect'. Lilibet is the Queen's husband's nickname and term of endearment for her, his wife. Wonder if they asked the Queen's permission to use it," wrote one Twitter user on the social media platform. Another chimed "it comes across as hypocritical being as Harry claims 'Generational Pain' that started with his dad’s parents ie the Queen..and now they giving her the Queen’s childhood nickname". The name also led users to deduce this was to resume family ties, as one wrote "IMO, M&H weaponized child's name in war to keep titles & get HRH P&P titles for their kids, w/name as ammo in any HMQ/PC plan to change rules/slim down monarchy, which shows H&M are incapable of selfless parental love by using & saddling child w/controversial name."

One user went so far as to label this a "power-mad" attempt to mend family ties. "M&H are in full grasping mode, in my opinion--desperate, hypocritical, power-mad, chess move, pathological grasping. Narcissists will offend and hurt anyone for their power plays, and I think M&H have just used this child as fuel for their narcissism," wrote the user about the couple. And most are mad at the Sussex for borrowing Prince Philip's name for his beloved Lilibet.

"Lilibet was the King George's nickname for Queen Elizabeth when she was a child .. Phillip just carried it on. At what depths those two hypocritical azzes won't go to? That was a special name. I bet they did not discuss it with the Queen either. Those titles should go today !" wrote a user on Twitter. Some also dubbed the name "patronizing" and "sick". There's just outrage all over because, as one Twitter user put it, "fancy naming a baby after the Great Grandmother that you just sat and slandered on Global TV".