Why call their daughter a Princess if the Sussexes don’t like royal life?
HOW lovely to see that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s daughter was christened this week in a private ceremony at their £12 million Californian mansion.
Harry and Meghan have called her Princess Lilibet Diana MountbattenWindsor, a name honouring not just the late Queen, but also his mother Diana and the royal houses of Mountbatten and Windsor — a tribute to both his grandmother’s lineage and that of his grandfather Prince Philip.
Yet isn’t it strange that the Sussexes failed to honour any of Meghan’s family in the name, in particular her mum Doria who’s played such an important role in her life?
After all, they’ve hurled accusations worldwide about the horrible Royal Family, accusing them of racism, of being cold, uncaring and of freezing out Meghan and forcing them to flee the country. Yet Doria, the mother Meghan adores and the only member of her family to attend the couple’s wedding, doesn’t get a mention.
Even though she is grandmother to Lilibet and was at the christening.
Calling the child Lilibet caused its own controversy. Palace sources say the late Queen was never asked if her private nickname could be adopted by these non-working royals. It was the only thing that was truly her own
THE much-coveted Oscars goody bag for Hollywood stars, valued at more than £100,000, contains not just offers of Italian holidays but liposuction and even free facelifts. What’s the point of that when they’ve all had so much work already — and that’s just the men.
— the palaces and the paintings did not really belong to her, they are part of being the monarch — and to appropriate this precious name was presumptuous to say the least.
And how puzzling that the Sussexes have named her a ‘Princess’ when they have gone to such lengths to escape the gilded cage of royal life.
In an interview in 2021, Meghan suggested titles were not all they are cracked up to be: ‘I have a lot of clarity on what comes with the titles, good and bad,’ she said. ‘And from my experience a lot of pain.’
Given this antipathy, you would have thought they might have followed Princess Anne’s example. When offered royal titles by the Queen for her children, Peter and Zara, Anne turned them down — and Zara has always said she felt ‘lucky’ as a result.
I’m sure little Lilibet will feel lucky, too. But how wonderful it would have been if the first mixed-race girl born into the British Royal Family had been honoured with her grandmother’s name, Doria.
Just thinking.