Meghan Markle today revealed they have started calling their children Archie and Lilibet prince and princess after secretly christening their daughter in California.
The Sussexes snubbed a British baptism for their youngest daughter and held a Anglican ceremony at their Montecito mansion for between 20 and 30 friends including her billionaire godfather Tyler Perry.
Harry and Meghan invited King Charles, Queen Consort Camilla and the Prince and Princess of Wales to the California ceremony last Friday but they declined, a source close to the couple told People magazine. It is not known when the British royals were asked to attend – or how any invite was sent to the UK. The Court Circular – Britain’s official record of royal engagements – reveals that none of the senior royals apart from Princess Anne attended events on the day of the christening.
A statement by the Sussexes’ referred to the 21-month-old as ‘Princess Lilibet Diana’ – revealing for the first time that the couple has decided to invoke their right to use ‘Princess’ for Lilibet, six months since the accession to the throne of King Charles last September. Archie will be called prince.
Harry and Meghan are said to not want to deny their children the chance to inherit royal titles from their father – seeing it as their birthright – but will allow Archie and Lili the chance to decide whether to drop or keep using the royal titles when they are older. Meghan famously told Oprah Winfrey that Archie was not given the title of prince because of his race, but this was disputed by the palace and constitutional experts.
