In a final insult to Queen Elizabeth II, in a manner which would likely make Prince Phillip turn in his grave, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced that they would be naming their daughter “Lilibet,” the nickname given affectionately to the Queen when she was a child.
The former royals announced the birth of their second child, Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, on Sunday. While the use of the name, Diana, is perfectly understandable and emotionally valid — given that Harry was famously close with his late mother — the “rebranding” of a meaningful nickname only used by a select few to refer to the current monarch is simply the latest insult in a growing line of insults from the B-list actress and her willing sidekick.
The nickname “Lilibet” was first introduced when Queen Elizabeth II was a child, and could not pronounce her own name. As CNN said, “Her grandfather, King George V, would affectionately imitate her attempts and the name stuck.” King George VI, the Queen’s father whom she adored, also used the nickname, and once said, “Lilibet is my pride. Margaret is my joy.” When the Queen’s mother died in 2002, a card signed, “In loving memory, Lilibet,” was laid upon the single wreath on her coffin. And Prince Philip, who married Elizabeth on the morning of November 20, 1947, and died in April 2021, is also reported to have referred to the Queen as “Lilibet.”
Given the obviously strained relationship between the Royal Family and the privacy-seeking Sussexes who find themselves in the notoriously private city of Hollywood, the use of such a meaningful and personal name is, frankly, despicable.
Yes, many will reject this as overblown hyperbole, with a dash of the standard “any criticism of Meghan Markle is racist” routine. However, it’s simply a fact that the selection of an emotional nickname as their first daughter’s name is the latest example of Markle and her spare part of a husband taking everything they can from the British monarchy, while giving nothing.
This is the same couple who happily sat with Oprah Winfrey and accused the Royal Family of systemic racism, making the unsubstantiated and noticeably vague claim that a member of the Royal Family expressed “concerns” over the color of their son’s skin tone and “how dark the baby’s going to be potentially and what that would mean or look like.” Harry supported this claim, but refused to specify who was the alleged “offender,” saying “That conversation I’m never going to share.” To point out the obvious, the head of this systemically racist system? Queen Elizabeth II, whose nickname Markle was happy to repurpose.
When there is an opportunity for victimhood, Markle delighted in throwing Queen Elizabeth II beneath the bus of systemic racism.
When no opportunity presented itself, the couple were all too happy to take perhaps the last thing they could from the monarchy they sporadically despise: its monarch’s name.
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.