Enough! You've Upset The Queen Again, Harry

Prince drags her majesty into war of words over baby name

- Richard Palmer

The Queen is “upset” at being dragged into a further rift between Prince Harry and the Royal Family on what would have been Prince Philip’s 100th birthday today.

A Palace insider insisted Her Majesty was “never asked” by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex if they could use her childhood nickname Lilibet for their newborn daughter.

But a war of words erupted as their lawyers threatened to sue the BBC and other news bodies for saying that – challenging the Palace’s view of events. That then pitched Harry against his 95-year-old grandmother, to all intents and purposes.

Tensions building behind the scenes flared up into a full-scale public row after the broadcaster reported a Palace source as saying that the Prince and his American wife had not asked the Queen about the names they wanted for their daughter.

Meghan, 39, had given birth to Lilibet “Lili” Diana MountbattenWindsor at a hospital in Santa Barbara, California last Friday.

Harry and Meghan’s London lawyers Schillings said in a statement on behalf of the couple: “The article is false and defamatory and the allegations within it should not be repeated.”

But sources close to the Royal Family supported the BBC story.

It is understood that there was disquiet at Windsor Castle following reports in the US suggesting that the Duke and Duchess had in fact sought permission from the Queen to use her highly personal nickname of Lilibet.

It came about when, as a toddler, she had struggled to pronounce her own name of Elizabeth.