She's Here! Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Welcome Baby Girl, Couple Honors Princess Diana & Queen Elizabeth With Name
Welcome to the world, Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor!
On Friday, June 4, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry welcomed the little one at 11:40 a.m. “in the trusted care of the doctors and staff at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, Calif.,” according to a statement from the press secretary for the couple.
The grand announcement was made on Sunday, June 6. After much speculation that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would honor either the late Princess Diana or Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, they have chosen to do both, as Lilibet is the 95-year-old monarch’s family nickname.
“It is with great joy that Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, welcome their daughter, Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, to the world,” the statement read. “… Both mother and child are healthy and well, and settling in at home.
“Lili is named after her great-grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen, whose family nickname is Lilibet. Her middle name, Diana, was chosen to honor her beloved late grandmother, The Princess of Wales.”
The name Lili does not come as a surprise. As OK! previously reported, the 36-year-old father-of-two previously hinted at his interest in the name during a visit with St. Anne’s Catholic Primary School students.
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It is also not surprising that the duo yet again honored Harry’s late mother. In 2019, when the couple welcomed now 2-year-old son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, Harry and Meghan were also thinking of Diana, since one of her ancestors from Scotland was named Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll.
But Harry isn’t the only one in the royal family to pay tribute to both his mother and grandmother with the name of his daughter. When his sister-in-law Kate Middleton gave birth in 2015, she and Prince William named their daughter, now 6, Charlotte Elizabeth Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced in February that they were expecting a second child. When the couple sat down with talk show titan Oprah Winfrey for their bombshell tell-all chat about their experience with royal life, they revealed that Archie’s new younger sibling would be a baby girl.
“A girl, you know, what more can you ask for?” Harry had said. “But now, you know, now we’ve got our family. We’ve got, you know, the four of us and our two dogs, and it’s great.”
Congrats to the happy couple!
