As we all know, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex wakes up in the morning with one thought in her mind: How can I snub my sister-in-law Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge today? Or so British tabloids like The Sun would have you believe. A story emerged this weekend concerning Prince Harry and Meghan’s son Archie: specifically, the parental names that appear on his birth certificate, which notably do not include the word “Meghan.” Archie’s birth certificate had in fact been changed roughly one month after his 2019 birth to include revised forms of Harry and Meghan’s titles and to remove the name “Rachel Meghan” entirely in favor of “Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex.” Or, to hear The Sun tell it, Meghan personally changed her baby’s birth certificate a month after giving birth to him in order to snub eternal frenemy Kate.
Archie was born on May 6, 2019, and his birth certificate originally listed his parents as “His Royal Highness Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex” and “Rachel Meghan Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex.” On June 5, 2019, an order was issued to correct both names: the former to “His Royal Highness Prince Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex” and the latter to “Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex.” In other words: Harry adds a “Prince” and Meghan loses a “Rachel Meghan.”
Prince William and Kate Middleton are facing backlash after condemning racist abuse in football more forcibly than they ever did with Meghan Markle.https://t.co/JQVl14H346
— SheKnows (@SheKnows) February 1, 2021
Here’s where things get interesting (and by interesting we mean detached from reality). While the average person might assume that Meghan would in fact be distressed to see her name stricken from her child’s birth certificate, the Sun instead suggested the Duchess herself was behind it — for the insidious reason of wanting to show up Kate Middleton, whose name is clearly printed of each of her three children’s birth certificates.
Why might this be a “snub” toward Kate, as the outlet puts it? They quote royal expert Ingrid Seward as saying: “Perhaps this is another sign they were desperate to do something different to the Cambridges.”
While Meghan Markle’s spokesperson declined to respond to the Sun‘s request for comment, they did release a general statement tweeted by royal reporter Omid Scobie in which they correct the outlet’s assumption that this certificate change had come at the couple’s request. It was the Palace that asked for this change, Meghan’s spokesperson contends, before going on to slam the ‘offensive’ suggestion that Meghan had her name taken off her baby’s birth certificate with ulterior motives.
From a spokesperson for Duchess Meghan: https://t.co/TuXZPRytC7pic.twitter.com/ZyFvceqBDs
— Omid Scobie (@scobie) January 31, 2021
“The change of name on public documents in 2019 was dictated by The Palace, as confirmed by documents from senior Palace officials. This was not requested by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex nor by The Duke of Sussex,” the statement read. “To see this U.K. tabloid and their carnival of so-called ‘experts’ chose 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.”
Adding the title “Prince” and removing any aspect of Meghan that isn’t strictly part of her royal title sounds like classic royal family moves to us, so we’re not surprised to hear that the Palace was behind it — and let’s just say that we’re sure this stern statement from the Sussexes won’t go unnoticed.
Before you go, click here to see Meghan Markle and Prince Harry‘s complete relationship timeline.
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