Meghan has changed her name on Lili's birth certificate
Despite stepping down from their roles as senior working royal family members, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have continued to use their formal titles, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in public. But in an interesting turn of events, Meghan has decided to ditch hers for the purposes of her daughter, Lilibet Diana's birth certificate.
The document, which was obtained by TMZ just a few short weeks after Lili's birth, has the newborn's father listed as 'The Duke of Sussex, His Royal Highness' for his first and last names. This differs slightly to the way he's documented on firstborn Archie's birth certificate, which was a British document as opposed to an American one, and reads: 'His Royal Highness Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex.' A mouthful indeed.
But new mum Meghan's change is far bigger between birth certificates. Where she was described as 'Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Sussex' on Archie's, Meghan has reverted back to her maiden name for Lilibet's formal documentation. Under the 'name of mother' section, 'Rachel Meghan Markle' is listed, with no sign of any 'Duchess,' 'Royal Highness' anywhere.
It's well known that Meghan's real name is, in fact, Rachel, so it's no surprise this features on Lili's birth certificate. It's believed the former actress switched to her middle name when she was in school, considering her yearbook photos show her as 'Meghan Markle' and not 'Rachel Markle'. Although Meghan has never publicly explained why she ditched Rachel, some assume it's because the alliteration of 'Meghan Markle' sounds catchier and therefore made a better stage name, or perhaps it was because Rachel was a pretty common name in the 80s, when she was born.
It's also completely expected that Meghan would no longer use 'Her Royal Highness' on any future formal documents, considering this status was removed when she stepped away from her royal duties. For Prince Harry, on the other hand, it was agreed that he would no longer use his HRH title in day-to-day life, although he would retain it as he was born into the royal family, which is likely why he uses it on Lilibet's birth certificate.
What is an interesting move, however, is that Meghan Markle hasn't chosen to mirror her husband's choice to use the 'Sussex' title on the certificate. It was perhaps predicted that she would have been listed as 'Rachel Meghan, Duchess of Sussex,' in keeping with the way she's credited as author of her new book ('Meghan, Duchess of Sussex') and in all Archewell literature ('The Duke and Duchess of Sussex'), but this clearly isn't the case.
When you remove all the specifics about who's titled what, however, all that really matters is that Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor is now an official person in the eyes of the state of California (and the world). Which is lovely, and we're hoping it won't be too long before we get to see a picture of her for ourselves...
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