Why Meghan And Harry Named Their Daughter Lilibet Diana

By Josie Fischels / NPR

Published June 7, 2021 at 9:15 AM PDT

This story was published more than 3 years ago.

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 09: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend the Commonwealth Day Service 2020 at Westminster Abbey on March 09, 2020 in London, England. The Commonwealth represents 2.4 billion people and 54 countries, working in collaboration towards shared economic, environmental, social and democratic goals.

Harry and Meghan's second child is here, and for her name the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have chosen to pay tribute to both her great-grandmother and her late grandmother.

Born Friday at a hospital in Santa Barbara, Calif., Lilibet "Lili" Diana Mountbatten-Windsor carries the family nickname of Queen Elizabeth II, who as a toddler struggled to pronounce her first name, the BBC reported.

As the story goes, King George V interpreted his granddaughter's attempts to say "Elizabeth" as "Lilibet." The name stuck and has been used by the family ever since — including, endearingly, by the queen's late husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who died in April.

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"Lilibet is the only 'thing' in the world which is absolutely real to me," Philip wrote to his mother-in-law after he and Elizabeth married.

The name also honors Princess Diana

For their daughter's middle name, Harry and Meghan chose "Diana" to honor her late grandmother, the Princess of Wales, who died in a car crash in 1997 when Harry was 12 years old.

As family members have publicly shared their congratulations to the couple, Harry and Meghan expressed their gratitude in a statement on their Archewell Foundation website.

"She is more than we could have ever imagined, and we remain grateful for the love and prayers we've felt from across the globe. Thank you for your continued kindness and support during this very special time for our family," the couple wrote.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement that the queen was "delighted" after Harry and Meghan announced the birth of the baby girl.

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She is the queen's 11th great-grandchild

The birth of the queen's 11th great-grandchild comes amid what has been a tumultuous period between the royal family and Harry and Meghan after the couple discussed their departure from their royal duties in an explosive interview this year with Oprah Winfrey.

Lilibet is eighth in line to the throne, moving Prince Andrew to ninth place. Like her 2-year-old brother, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, it is unlikely she will have a title, although she is currently able to become a princess once her grandfather, Charles, Prince of Wales, takes the throne.

Like Archie, Lilibet is set to be a citizen of both the U.S. and the United Kingdom.