Royal commentator Daniela Elser has speculated about the ‘similarities’ between Harry and Meghan’s new daughter’s name and that of one of her royal cousins, Charlotte.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s choice of name for their daughter bears a “strange” similarity to that of Princess Charlotte, a royal commentator claims.
On Sunday the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced the birth of their second child, Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.
They welcomed their daughter at the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in California, where the couple now live with their two-year-old son Archie, following the controversial “Megxit” out of the Royal Family.
Harry and Meghan’s choice of name for their daughter pays tribute to both the Queen and Harry’s late mother, Diana, who would have celebrated her 60th birthday next month.
The Queen’s nickname, Lilibet, dates back to when she was a toddler, when her grandfather King George V is said to have begun calling her it to mimic her failed attempts to pronounce her own name.
Australian writer Daniela Elser, writing for news.com.au, has expressed her views on the couple’s choice of baby name, suggesting that their choice was “always going to raise eyebrows”.
She went on to write that the Sussexes’ homage to the Queen could be a “fairly blatant, self-serving ploy to get back into the palace’s good graces” following their stateside departure and subsequent televised interview with American TV host Oprah Winfrey which caused global controversy.
Elser has also speculated about the similarities between Harry and Meghan’s daughter’s name and that of six-year-old Princess Charlotte, the second-born child of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
She highlighted that the Transatlantic cousins share the middle name Diana in a nod to the brothers’ late mother, who passed away in 1997, and ‘Lilibet’ is a version of Elizabeth – another of Princess Charlotte’s middle names.
The two cousins also share the same surname, Mountbatten-Windsor.