Harry threatens to sue over Lilibet report

Prince Harry has threatened legal action against the BBC after it reported that he and his wife, Meghan, “never asked” the queen for permission to give their newborn daughter her childhood nickname, Lilibet.

Harry’s threat heralds yet another tense standoff involving him and his American wife against the British royal establishment — or rather between them and Buckingham Palace courtiers, who are said to never offer comments, even anonymously, without Elizabeth II’s express direction, according to the Daily Mail.

BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond, citing an unnamed Buckingham Palace source, reported Wednesday that the queen was “never asked” her opinion on the couple’s decision to give their daughter the first name Lilibet. “Lilibet” was bestowed on the queen by her father, George VI, when she was a young girl.

In recent years, the only person to reportedly call the 95-year-old monarch Lilibet was her husband, Prince Philip, who died in April.

However, Harry hit back within 90 minutes of the BBC report being published, the Daily Mail reported. He had Omid Scobie, his journalist friend and sympathetic biographer, tweet out a statement that insisted that the queen was the first relative Harry called after Lilibet’s birth.

Harry also took things a step further a few hours after Scobie’s tweet, calling the BBC report false and threatening the venerable broadcaster with legal action, the Daily Mail reported.

Through his attorneys, the Duke of Sussex issued another carefully worded statement: “The Duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement, in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called.

“During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honor,” the statement continued, according to the Daily Mail. “Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name.”

The dueling statements between Harry’s people and Buckingham Palace add to the ongoing drama surrounding the Sussexes, who stepped away from royal life in 2020 and moved to California to embark on careers as U.S.based entertainment moguls.

MATT DUNHAM — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Prince HYrry, right, is threYtening legYl Yction YgYinst the BBC Yfter Y report sYid he Ynd his wife, MeghYn, “never Ysked” the queen her permission to give their dYughter her childhood nicknYme, Lilibet.