Karl Stefanovic has mocked Meghan Markle and Prince Harry for naming their newborn daughter Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, claiming her first name reminds him of a betting app.
The Today host – who has been an outspoken critic of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex amid their rift with the Royal family – took yet another swipe at the couple on Monday during an interview with Piers Morgan.
‘What did you make of the name Lilibet? Does it sound like a sports betting app?’ Stefanovic, 46, asked fellow Sussex adversary Morgan.
‘Does it sound like a betting app?’ Karl Stefanovic (left, with co-host Allison Langdon) made fun of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry for calling their baby girl Lilibet. Right: Piers Morgan
Indeed, ‘Lilibet’ would not seem out of place alongside Australia’s most popular betting apps, which include Unibet, Sportsbet and Pointsbet.
In reality, however, the newborn’s name was actually inspired by her great-grandmother Her Majesty The Queen, whose family nickname is Lilibet.
Responding to Stefanovic, Morgan mocked the ‘irony’ of Harry and Meghan’s decision to use The Queen‘s nickname, after the couple spent weeks ‘trashing the royal family and the monarchy’.
You bet it does! ‘Lilibet’ would not seem out of place alongside Australia’s most popular betting apps, which include Unibet, Sportsbet and Pointsbet. Pictured: Meghan and Harry with baby son Archie at Windsor Castle on May 8, 2019
‘I think it’s quite ironic, isn’t it?’ During his interview with Today, Morgan mocked the ‘irony’ of Harry and Meghan’s decision to use The Queen’s nickname ‘Lilibet’ for their new baby daughter, after the couple spent weeks ‘trashing the royal family and the monarchy’
‘I think it’s quite ironic, isn’t it?’ he said.
‘You have this couple who have been trashing the royal family and the monarchy for the last few weeks and they have named the baby after the Queen.’
Meghan and Harry plunged the Windsors into crisis with the televised interview in March, when they accused an unnamed royal of making a racist remark about their son Archie’s skin tone and claimed the royals failed to help the duchess when she was suicidal.
Last month, Harry also spoke out during a series with Winfrey on mental health for Apple TV+ and suggested his father, Prince Charles, had allowed his children to ‘suffer’ when it came to the media because of his own negative experience.
Sweet family nickname for Queen that inspired Harry and Meghan’s name for their baby daughter
Lilibet – the Queen’s family nickname – was first used when Princess Elizabeth was just a toddler and unable to pronounce her own name properly.
Her grandfather King George V would affectionately call her ‘Lilibet’, imitating her own attempts to say Elizabeth.
The sweet nickname stuck and she became Lilibet to her family from then on.
The Duke of Edinburgh also referred to his wife as Lilibet, writing to his mother in law after their wedding: ‘Lilibet is the only ‘thing’ in the world which is absolutely real to me.’
Harry and Meghan’s new baby daughter – the Queen’s 11th great-grandchild – will be known as Lili. A variation on Lily, the flower is often seen to symbolise purity, commitment, rebirth and fertility.
Lili’s middle name Diana honours Harry’s later mother Diana, Princess of Wales. It is no surprise the couple chose to pay tribute to Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997 when Harry was just 12.
Lili has been born almost a month before the princess would have celebrated her 60th birthday on July 1. Her cousin Princess Charlotte also has Diana as one of her middle names, as well as Elizabeth. She is Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.
Harry and the Duke of Cambridge are due to unveil a statue of their mother at Kensington Palace on her birthday, but the arrangements have yet to be confirmed, amid a long-reported rift between the brothers.
The Sussexes’ tribute to the Queen is likely to be seen as an olive branch to the monarch and the rest of the family.
Harry and Meghan plunged the Windsors into crisis with their Oprah Winfrey interview in March when they accused an unnamed royal of making a racist remark about their son Archie’s skin tone before he was born.
They also said the institution failed to help Meghan when she was suicidal. But during the televised interview with Winfrey, the Sussexes lauded the Queen.
Harry spoke of his respect for his grandmother, while Meghan said: ‘The Queen… has always been wonderful to me.’
Morgan – a fierce critic of the couple – said he wondered if the decision to honour the Queen was Harry and Meghan’s way of making peace with the Royal Family.
‘Maybe it’s their way of reaching out, as the Americans say, to the royals and wanting some kind of end to this on-running feud,’ he said.
Morgan then offered a few words of support to the couple – adding the birth of a child was not the right moment to put across a negative opinion.
Arrival: On June 4th, The Duchess of Sussex gave birth to a daughter named Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, after the family nickname for the Queen and the Duke’s mother Princess Diana, who died in 1997. Pictured: Harry and Meghan in February
‘I always think when a new baby is born, I’ve had four myself it’s churlish to put any negative slant,’ he said.
‘At such a moment. I wish them all the very best. There is four in the family now. I wish them every success and a long and happy life.’
On Sunday night, the delighted Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced: ‘On June 4, we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter, Lili.
Heated: Morgan (pictured) on Sunday evening also launched a fresh attack on the Sussexes in a heated interview on Australian TV
‘She is more than we could have ever imagined, and we remain grateful for the love and prayers we’ve felt from across the globe. Thank you for your continued kindness and support during this very special time for our family.’
Lili – who is eighth in line to the throne – was born in Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in California, a private facility where births cost up to £20,000.
Omid Scobie, a journalist favoured by Harry and Meghan, tweeted the couple would ‘not be sharing a photograph at this time’ of Lili and that they were now on ‘parental leave’.
He said the couple’s office was encouraging anyone who wanted to send gifts to support organisations working for women and girls.
Critic: ‘I’m sorry to call her that but she tells lies… We’ve proven that,’ Morgan said about Meghan
Morgan on Sunday evening meanwhile sounded off Meghan, calling her a ‘downright liar’ in an explosive interview with Stefanovic on 60 Minutes.
The presenter sensationally left his GMB gig earlier this year after a live war of words with the show’s weatherman Alex Beresford over Harry and Meghan.
Morgan had faced a severe backlash online after declaring he didn’t believe her claims during her blockbuster interview with Winfrey in March.
One of the major claims he took aim at was that the Duke and Duchess tied the knot three days before their official ceremony at Windsor Castle in 2018.
‘Well, that’s not true. They couldn’t have got married three days before they said they did because that would make the Archbishop of Canterbury a criminal,’ Morgan said.
‘There were a lot of things coming out of Meghan Markle’s mouth that I knew to be untrue.’
Adversary: One of Morgan’s biggest critics in Australia has been Karl Stefanovic (pictured)
‘I thought there were downright lies coming out of the interview and I saw my job to hold these two people to the same account I would hold a government minister.
‘For doing that, within 36 hours I had to leave the job.’
Unbeknownst to the morning TV host at the time, Markle had personally contacted the station’s top brass to complain about his criticism.
The bestselling author of ‘Wake Up: Why the World has Gone Nuts’ said nowadays your ‘not allowed to have strong opinions’.
Issue: Morgan took issue with Markle’s claim she tied the knot with Harry three days before their official ceremony at Windsor Castle in 2018
‘You’re not allowed to disbelieve a liar like Meghan Markle. I’m sorry to call her that but she tells lies… We’ve proven that,’ he said.
Talking about Morgan’s feud with Meghan, Stefanovic said in 2018: ‘I mean, what is that guy on? He’s lost the plot completely.
‘I don’t know how his poor co-host puts up with it. Imagine putting up with a dude like that who is so up himself and so egotistical that he would assume to say those things about her.’
‘It’s disgusting. You wouldn’t put up with it. He needs to go. He’s off the mark here.’
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In Sunday night’s TV confrontation, Stefanovic asked Morgan if he’s just an angry old man’ – triggering laughter from the media veteran.
Morgan hit back by insisting that ‘freedom of speech is actually more important than the Meghan Markle debacle’.
Speaking out: In Sunday night’s TV confrontation, Stefanovic asked Morgan if he’s just an angry old man’ – triggering laughter from the media veteran. Morgan hit back by insisting that ‘freedom of speech is actually more important than the Meghan Markle debacle’
