Prince Harry: Expert on ‘omission’ from Archie’s birth certificate
A royal spat played out in the media last week after it emerged two changes were made to the royal baby’s documentation three weeks after it was registered. The Duchess of Sussex had her given names ‘Rachel Meghan’ removed, leaving just ‘Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex’, while Harry added ‘Prince’ to his name, which was previously omitted. This sparked wild speculation as to why the couple might have done this, with some claiming it was all part of the Sussexes’ scheme to market themselves.
However, the couple quickly responded with a forthright statement.
Meghan’s spokesperson said: “The change of name on public documents in 2019 was dictated by the Palace, as confirmed from senior Palace officials.
“This was not requested by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex nor by The Duke of Sussex.”
They added: “To see this UK tabloid and their carnival of so-called ‘experts’ choose to deceptively whip this into a calculated family ‘snub’ and suggest that she would oddly want to be nameless on her child’s birth certificate, or any other legal document, would be laughable were it not offensive.”
READ MORE: Meghan and Harry kept close family in the dark about Archie’s birth
Meghan Markle and her son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor (Image: GETTY)
Archie just a few days after he was born (Image: GETTY)
However, Palace insiders reportedly hit back claiming it was simply a “clerical error” that had led to a correction.
A source told Express.co.uk: “The birth certificate was changed by the former Office of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex to ensure consistency in the name and title of The Duchess of Sussex with other private documents.”
Pod Save the Queen is hosted by Ann Gripper and features Daily Mirror royal editor Russell Myers.
Mr Myers argued that there was “petrol poured on the fire” by Meghan’s spokesperson blaming royal protocol and claiming the change had been “dictated” by the Palace, especially when it seems to have been an admin issue.
Meghan, Harry and their newborn son Archie (Image: GETTY)
This triggered the Palace to respond, insisting that it was “nothing to do with them”.
He argued that Meghan “made it worse” with her intervention.
Mr Myers said: “The petrol was poured on the fire by Meghan’s spokesman because they then released this statement saying that it was dictated to by the Palace, they didn’t have anything to do with it, it was nothing to do with Meghan, and it was because of a set rule of protocols and that isn’t true.
“The issue was it wasn’t dictated to by Buckingham Palace because at the time they had their own team at Kensington Palace who reported into Buckingham Palace and then the Palace have essentially said it was nothing to do with them, guv.
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Meghan has been accused of throwing fuel on the fire (Image: GETTY)
“So, the plot thickens.
“And I think it was an unfortunate turn of phrase, if we are being kind, and certainly that is how it was described to me.
“And I don’t really understand why they had the need to make this a big, big issue and it just seems to have made the problem worse, to be honest with you.”
Ms Gripper questioned what the point of “all this polava” is, when the row seems to be over a couple of word changes made 18 months ago.
Royal insider says it’s been ‘impossible’ for Archie to see family
She dismissed the claim that Meghan and Harry made the changes in order to market themselves as royals later on.
Mr Myers agreed, saying the accusation of it being a calculated move is “unfair”, but added that it was the tone of Meghan’s statement that some took issue with.
He said: “They were quite bemused by the tone from Mehgan’s spokesman, talking about ‘a carnival of so-called experts’ called up to give their opinions and the issue was with the Palace and it had been dictated to by them ‒ and that just made it worse really.
“And I also think that there are still an awful lot of issues in the background here and things like this just make it worse unfortunately.”
Ms Gripper lamented how public and “silly” this all is, adding that people need to “calm down”.
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