Meghan Markle's stark warning on choosing baby name as royal feud continues

Meghan Markle gave a key piece of advice to any expecting parents regarding their babies' names, years after her own feud with the Royal Family about one of her own children's names. The Duchess of Sussex now resides in Montecito, California, alongside her husband, Prince Harry and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Meghan released the final episode of her podcast, Confessions Of A Female Founder this week, which featured Spanx founder and mother-of-four, Sara Blakely. The two mums talked about the struggles of naming their businesses, when Meghan appeared to take a subtle swipe at the Royal Family, giving a warning to all expecting parents.

She said: "You're like, 'What do you think?' It's no different — I will say this to every woman in the world or every person in the world who's going to have a child — if you have an idea about what you are going to name that baby, you keep it so close to your heart until that baby is born and it's named. Don't ask anyone's opinion."

Harry and Meghan's decision to name their daughter Lilibet – a nickname used for the late Queen Elizabeth – sparked backlash when it was announced.

Various reports and royal watchers claimed Elizabeth never approved of her nickname being handed to the Sussexes' daughter. However, Harry and Meghan have always stated that they did get permission from the late Queen regarding Lilibet's name.

Lilibet was first used by the late monarch when she, as Princess Elizabeth, was just a toddler and unable to pronounce her own name properly. Her grandfather, King George V, would call her Lilibet, imitating her own attempts to say Elizabeth, and that's how the name stuck.

Robert Hardman's book Charles III: New King, New Court, The Inside Story claimed about the name row incident: "One [aide] privately recalled that the late Queen had been 'as angry as I'd ever seen her' in 2021 after the Sussexes announced that she had given them her blessing to call their baby daughter 'Lilibet', the Queen's childhood nickname."

Reports at the time claimed the late Queen was consulted about the name, but did not feel able to say no whereas the BBC reported that a Palace source said Elizabeth was not asked by the Sussexes whether they could use the name.

At the time, the Sussexes's lawyers reportedly sent legal letters to the BBC and other publishers saying the claim was false and defamatory, while their spokesperson insisted they spoke to the late monarch.

According to Hardman, Queen Elizabeth allegedly told Palace aides: "I don't own the palaces or the paintings, only my name, and now they've taken that."