Harry and Meghan confirm they DID buy ‘Lilibetdiana.com BEFORE ‘name was approved by the Queen’ 

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s decision to buy a ‘Lili Diana’ website almost a week before their daughter’s birth and ‘Lilibet Diana’ on the day she arrived suggests they had ‘already made up their minds’ on the name before speaking to the Queen, a royal expert claimed today.

Four days before Lili was born in California the domain LiliDiana.com was registered on May 31 followed by LilibetDiana.com on June 4 – the day Archie’s younger sister entered the world.

‘Lilibet’ was first used by the then Princess Elizabeth when she was unable to pronounce her own name and was used affectionately by her grandfather George V and later her husband Philip until he died in April. Following claims by the BBC that the Queen had not been consulted, Harry and Meghan’s lawyers said it was ‘false and defamatory’ to suggest they did not discuss using the name with Her Majesty.

Royal author Phil Dampier told MailOnline: ‘The fact they registered it before the name was announced tends to indicate that they had made up their minds and probably only told the Queen once they’d decided on it.

‘When they issued a statement it said Harry had rung the Queen before anyone else and discussed the name with her. That may well be right but that’s not the same as asking permission days or even weeks beforehand. I think the Queen might have been caught off guard and probably didn’t object to it because she doesn’t want to upset Harry any further’.

He added: ‘But from what I hear the Palace has not denied the BBC story which claimed Harry didn’t ask permission before announcing the name.’

Evening Standard Royal Editor Robert Jobson suggested that the couple may have undermined their legal threat against the BBC, tweeting today that their lawyers could now be ‘without a paddle’.

The public announcement of Lilibet Diana’s arrival came two days later. Harry insists he spoke to his grandmother about the name ‘in advance of the announcement’ but has not been specific on when that exactly was only to say: ‘His grandmother was the first family member he called’.

A spokesman for the couple told The Telegraph: ‘As is often customary with public figures, a significant number of domains of any potential names that were considered were purchased… to protect against the exploitation of the name once it was later chosen and shared.’

The statement suggests that had Her Majesty refused to allow them to use Lilibet they would have gone for another name amongst the ‘significant’ number of domains they bought before the birth.

As the row over Lili’s name rumbled on, it also emerged today:

• Prince Harry may arrive back in UK in next 24 hours and is set to stay with Princess Eugenie at Covid-secure Frogmore Cottage ahead of Diana statue unveiling with his brother; 
• The Duchess of Sussex may have cut short an official visit to a feminist project in Fiji due to a perceived snub by its organisers years earlier. At the time, aides blamed the heat, humidity and crowds. But royal biographer Robert Lacey has now suggested it could have been due to the involvement of UN Women, which hosted the event;
• Kate and Prince William did not talk in depth to Prince Harry after Prince Philip’s funeral because they feared details would ‘go straight back to Meghan to be leaked out via Oprah Winfrey;
• Royal expert suggests Prince ‘threatened’ he would do Oprah ‘truth bomb’ interview if Queen stripped him of military titles;

It came as The Times reported that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge did not hold any meetings with Prince Harry after Prince Philip’s funeral because they feared any details would be leaked. They spoke briefly while walking from St George’s Chapel.

Royal historian Robert Lacey said: ‘They told friends that they could see no point in talking to Harry since any discussion of substance would go straight back to Meghan to be leaked via Oprah [Winfrey] or some other tentacle of the Sussex network.’ In an updated edition of his Battle of Brothers book, Lacey also revealed the reason Meghan walked out of a UN event in Fiji was because she resented being an ‘advocate’ and not a ‘goodwill ambassador’.

Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana Mountbatten-Windsor was born at 11.40am on Friday June 4 at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in California, weighing 7lb 11oz.

On the same day the website in her name was secured, according to a public registry of domain names.

The Sussexes announced her birth and name at 5pm on Sunday June 6, UK time, meaning only close friends, family and aides will have known the news when the URL was set up.

It was bought up via US company Domains By Proxy, which calls itself the Internet’s very first privacy service and charges people a fee to buy up websites for anyone who does not ‘want their personal information available for everyone to see’. 

As a result the owner of lilibetdiana.com is not contained on the ‘Whois’ record – a register that shows the owners of the world’s websites. 

Today the Sussexes confirmed it was them. And it emerged that they had  bought LiliDiana.com four days before her birth.

Earlier this month the couple launched an unprecedented legal attack on the BBC after the corporation claimed the couple did not ask the Queen if they could name their daughter Lilibet.

In an extraordinary escalation of their war on the UK media, Harry and Meghan instructed lawyers to contest comments from the BBC’s ‘palace source’.

The couple said it was ‘false and defamatory’ to suggest the monarch had ‘never been asked’ if they could use her nickname and said the claim should not be repeated.

The BBC, although not commenting publicly, appeared to be standing by its story, which was still up on its website and the segment ran in most of its main news bulletins.

It is not clear whether the couple intend to take the matter to court, as they have done twice previously in cases against the media. 

Buckingham Palace has refused to comment, but is notably not denying the BBC’s story that Her Majesty ‘was never asked’ about the couple appropriating her pet name.

One well-placed insider told the Daily Mail that the couple’s decision to use Lilibet was ‘a classic example of their conviction that everything they do is right but deliberately misconstrued by the forces out to get them – and yet totally tone-deaf to the realities of the situation’.

The row was triggered on Radio 4’s Today programme, when royal correspondent Jonny Dymond said he had been told by a ‘palace source’ that the Queen had not been asked by the couple about naming their daughter Lilibet.

In a report, which was backed up by a longer story on the BBC’s website, he said the source strongly disputed reports that Harry and Meghan had spoken to the Queen before the birth.

Mr Dymond said his ‘good palace source’ was ‘absolutely adamant’ the Queen had ‘never’ been consulted. But his report also highlighted the fact that a ‘source close to the Sussexes’ had told the BBC directly that Harry had spoken to the Queen ‘before the birth’ and ‘would have mentioned the name’. 

The aide behind the Palace leak to the BBC is unknown, though it is thought to be a senior official. It’s also unclear if the Queen was aware of the comment, though it is considered almost unprecedented for the monarch not to sign off on quotes from senior officials, even if they are anonymous briefings. 

Despite it being 1am on the West Coast of the US, Harry and Meghan’s California-based PR team briefed chosen media.

The couple’s biographer Omid Scobie tweeted: ‘Those close to Prince Harry confirm that he spoke to close family before the announcement so perhaps this report highlights just how far removed aides within the institution (who learned of the baby news alongside the rest of the world) now are from the Sussexes’ private matters.’

Shortly afterwards, the couple issued an on-the-record denial, saying: ‘The duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement [of Lilibet’s name on Sunday], in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called. During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honour.

‘Had she not been supportive, they would not have used it.’

Critics seized on the words ‘shared their hope’, saying it did not confirm that the Queen had a choice in the matter, either being formally consulted or asked for her blessing. And the Sussex PR team did not clarify when they informed the Queen – before or after the birth.

The denial was followed up by a legal warning to the media from the couple’s London-based firm of solicitors, Schillings, which accused the BBC of libel.

It described the story on the BBC’s website as ‘false and defamatory’, adding that ‘the allegations within it should not be repeated’.

The extraordinary row exploded after days of claim and counter-claim over whether the Queen had been consulted or just informed of her new great-granddaughter’s name and when.

Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior working royals in early 2020 in a quest for personal and financial freedom after struggling with royal life. They have signed multimillion-pound deals with Netflix and Spotify, and set up their Archewell Foundation.

In February last year, a month after they emigrated, the Queen ordered they must drop their ‘Sussex Royal’ label after deciding to step down as working royals.

Her Majesty and senior officials are said to have agreed it is no longer tenable for the couple to keep the word ‘royal’ in their ‘branding’.

Harry and Meghan spent tens of thousands of pounds on a Sussex Royal website to complement their hugely popular Instagram feed.

They also sought to register Sussex Royal as a global trademark for a range of items and activities, including clothing, stationery, books and teaching materials. In addition, they took steps to set up a new charitable organisation: Sussex Royal, The Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

But they were later forced to accept defeat and changed to Archewell. 

Harry and Meghan first began using the Sussex Royal branding in 2019, after they split their household from that of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – known as Kensington Royal. 

Dozens of trademark applications were made for everything from bandanas to notebooks – although sources have always stressed that these were preventative measures to protect the trademark from others, and never intended for commercial use.

It placed the Queen in an invidious position, given her long-held conviction of refusing to allow working members of the family to profit from their positions. 

If Harry keeps true to his pledge, their daughter will be their last child. He told activist and chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall in 2019 that he would only have two children for the sake of the planet.

Home for the new family-of-four is Harry and Meghan’s £11 million forever mansion in Montecito, California.

Did Meghan Markle cut a royal visit short over ‘snub’ by UN? Duchess of Sussex may have slashed visit to feminist project in Fiji over incident with organisers years earlier

The Duchess of Sussex may have cut short an official visit to a feminist project in Fiji due to a perceived snub by its organisers years earlier.

At the time, aides blamed the heat, humidity and crowds for the then-pregnant duchess’s decision to leave after just eight minutes, disappointing market vendors who had waited to meet her.

But royal biographer Robert Lacey has now suggested it could have been due to the involvement of UN Women, which hosted the event.

In 2015, before dating Prince Harry, Meghan gave a keynote address on gender equality for UN Women in New York. 

Then an actress in the US legal drama Suits, she received a standing ovation from guests including Ban Ki-moon, then UN secretary-general.

Mr Lacey writes in Battle of Brothers, his book about William and Harry: ‘[Meghan] had rubbed shoulders with the likes of Hillary Clinton… and might have hoped to join UN Women’s distinguished roster of goodwill ambassadors that included celebrities such as Nicole Kidman and Emma Watson… but in those pre-Harry days UN Women only assigned the cable actress the lesser role of advocate.’

Suggesting that Meghan’s swift exit years later was down to what she’d seen as a snub, Mr Lacey quotes a Los Angeles screenwriter who told him: ‘Meghan does not cope well with what she perceives as rejection.

‘She’s nice and smiley as can be until you step in her way or don’t give her what she hopes for. Then she can be remorseless – heaven help you!’ 

Meghan was pregnant with son Archie when she and Harry embarked on a royal tour of Australia and Fiji in 2018.

She was due to make a 20-minute visit to the market in Suva, the Fijian capital, to see the work of Markets for Change – a project run by UN Women.

At the time, an aide said of her early departure: ‘It was hot, humid and uncomfortably busy and there were far larger crowds than expected.’

However, a source told The Times that her decision to leave was down to UN Women – and that Meghan had only agreed to visit the market if there was no branding for the organisation. 

Lawyers for the duchess denied she had left because of the organisation, and said she met with other leaders from UN Women later in the tour.

Mr Lacey also played down reports that Prince Charles’s pursuit of a slimmed-down monarchy could see him block Archie and his sister Lilibet from becoming a prince and princess.

He told The Times that Charles’s priority as king ‘will be to gain popular support for upgrading the status of Camilla from princess consort to queen consort… he is not likely to court unpopularity by removing HRH status from Archie and Lili’.

Prince Harry may arrive back in UK in next 24 hours and is set to stay with Princess Eugenie at Covid-secure Frogmore Cottage ahead of Diana statue unveiling   

By James Robinson for MailOnline 

Prince Harry could arrive in the UK in the next 24 hours, and will stay at a ‘Covid-secure’ Frogmore Cottage with Princess Eugenie and her family, according to reports.

It is understood that the Duke of Sussex, 36, will stay in self-contained accommodation at the royal home in Windsor when he jets back from the US.

Harry is leaving wife Meghan Markle, who has recently given birth, back at their £11million California mansion to take part in the unveiling of a statue in honour of his mother, Princess Diana, next month.

He could make the journey within the next 24 hours, in order to serve out his ‘amber list’ quarantine at Frogmore ahead of the unveiling, on July 1.

Frogmore Cottage was initially gifted to Harry and Meghan by the Queen after the couple’s wedding.

But they gave up the property after dramatically quitting frontline royal duties and moving to the US.

The keys were later handed to Princess Eugenie, who is living there with husband Jack Brooksbank and their recently born first child August.

According to the Sun, the house has been divided into two parts to make it Covid safe for Harry’s arrival.

A source told the paper: ‘Eugenie and Jack were handed the keys last year and told they could use it while Harry and Meghan were in America.

‘The cottage is now literally split into two, meaning Harry can isolate in one half of the house without ever coming into contact with his cousin and her family.

‘It has been set up for his return after last-minute plans seemed to work when he was back for the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral in April.’ 

Harry and Meghan were handed the keys to Frogmore, on the royal owned Windsor Home Park estate, as wedding gift by the Queen.

But, after spending £2.4million in taxpayer-funded renovation, which they later agreed to pay-back, the couple quit the UK and jetted off to America.

Eugenie and husband Jack then moved into the five-bedroom home in November last year. The couple welcomed their first child, August, in February.

Harry recently quarantined at Frogmore when arriving from the US for the funeral of his grandfather Prince Philip.

He will, subject to any changes, have to quarantine at the house again for 10 days on his arrival in the UK, because the US is currently on the amber travel list. 

The unveiling will take place on July 1, which means he will need to arrive at Frogmore within the next 24 hours in order to see out the full 10-days.

However he could take the option of a five-day quarantine if he has a negative Covid result in the Government’s ‘Test and Release’ scheme.

The voluntary test, which is funded by the person taking it, allows people to cut the quarantine time to five days if they have a negative test on the fifth day. 

It comes as it was reported that Harry and his brother William will put differences aside to attend the unveiling of the new statue dedicated to Diana.

The unveiling of the statue could help thaw frosty ties between her sons who are both due to be at the July 1 ceremony in the gardens of Kensington Palace.

The princes are due to walk together to unveil the statue they commissioned to mark what would have been their mother’s 60th birthday.

It will be the first time the pair reunite since Prince Philip’s funeral in April. The pair have failed to reconcile since the Harry’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March, sources claim. 

A source told The Sun: ‘Harry and William have only communicated by text since the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral. There have not been any personal chats or proper talks, just a very brief and minimal exchange of text messages.

‘The relationship is still very much strained and there’s no sign yet that there will be any sort of coming together any time soon.’ 

Prince Harry’s arrival at Frogmore comes as current occupant Eugenie shared an adorable set of photos of her husband with their baby son August to mark Father’s Day.

The proud mother, 31, took to Instagram today to reveal the four images.

One showed a tired Jack with August, who was born in February, lying on his chest as he slept. In another, the proud father smiled for the camera while holding his son.

Jack was also seen smiling widely as he pushed August’s pram, whilst the fourth image showed the husband and wife posing together for a photo with August in the countryside.

In the caption she wrote: ‘Happy Father’s Day to you my love… you are the ultimate father to our boy!!’

Eugenie and husband Jack Brooksbank welcomed their son – his full name August Philip Hawke Brooksbank – on February 9 at the Portland Hospital in London.

Within an hour of Eugenie sharing the images, she had racked up nearly 50,000 likes and nearly 400 comments.

Eugenie’s post came after the Duke of Cambridge spent Father’s Day with his two eldest children, who helped him kick off a half marathon event on the Queen’s Sandringham Estate.

Prince William, who recently turned 38, was joined by Prince George, seven, and Princess Charlotte, six, at the beginning of the event in Sandringham, Norfolk.

Kate and Prince William did NOT talk to Prince Harry after Prince Philip’s funeral because they feared details would ‘go straight back to Meghan to be leaked out via Oprah Winfrey or some other tentacle of the Sussex network’ says royal historian 

By Harry Howard and James Robinson and James Gant and Mark Duell for MailOnline 

Prince William and Kate Middleton did not have a sit-down conversation with Prince Harry after Prince Philip’s funeral because they feared details would be leaked, a royal historian has claimed.

The trio were seen walking and chatting together for a few minutes as they left their grandfather’s funeral service at Windsor Castle in April. 

It was believed at the time that the brothers then spoke to each other and to their father Prince Charles for around two hours afterwards.

This was said to be in the hope of repairing relations following Prince Harry and Meghan’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey. 

However, leading royal historian Robert Lacey has said in an updated version of his book Battle of the Brothers that the conversation did not take place because the Cambridges were worried their conversation would be leaked. 

In the book, which is being serialised in The Times, Mr Lacey wrote: ‘They told friends that they could see no point in talking to Harry since any discussion of substance would go straight back to Meghan to be leaked via Oprah [Winfrey] or some other tentacle of the Sussex network.’ 

Instead, Prince Charles is said to have gone back to his Wales home whilst Kate and William went home to Kensington Palace to put their children to bed.

The Cambridges’ alleged fears came after Meghan’s friend Gayle King revealed on US news channel CBS that while Prince Harry had had talks with his brother and father after his interview with Oprah, these discussions were ‘not productive’.

She said in March: ‘Well, I did actually call them to see how they are feeling, it’s true, Harry has talked to his brother and his father, too.

‘The word I was given was, those conversations were not productive. But they are glad they at least started a conversation.’

Mr Lacey also said in his updated book that it was ‘not by accident’ that neither Princess Anne nor the Countess of Wessex – Prince Edward’s wife – spoke in public with Prince Harry on the day of Prince Philips’ funeral.  

He wrote: ‘People felt incensed by what they saw as the calculated and focused cruelty of the TV interview and by the hypocrisy of Meghan — relating so brightly to Oprah how she had phoned the Queen to show her concern about Philip’s condition without even considering, apparently, the impact that their televised catalogue of grievance might have upon the invalid’s morale and health.’ 

Ms King, who attended Meghan’s baby shower in 2019, said on CBS she had been told by the Sussexes that they had been keen for the ‘royals to intervene and tell the Press to stop with the unfair, inaccurate, false stories that definitely have a racial slant’.

Ms King, 66, who is also close friends with Oprah, failed to give any examples of the stories she was referring to, but added that Meghan has ‘documents to back up everything that she said on Oprah’s interview’.

She added: ‘And I think what is still upsetting to them is the palace keep saying they want to work it out privately, but yet, they believe these false stories are coming out that are very disparaging against Meghan, still.

‘No one in the Royal Family has talked to Meghan yet, at this particular time. 

‘And I think it’s frustrating for them to see that it’s a racial conversation about the Royal Family when all they wanted all along was for the royals to intervene and tell the Press to stop with the unfair, inaccurate, false stories that definitely have a racial slant. 

‘And until you can acknowledge that, I think it’s going to be hard to move forward. 

‘But they both want to move forward with this and they both want healing in this family. At the end of the day, that is Harry’s family.’  

Prince Harry rocked his family with bombshell accusations during his and his wife’s interview with Ms Winfrey in March.

They 36-year-old claimed his 38-year-old brother and 72-year-old father were ‘trapped’ in ‘The Firm’.  

Harry and William were seen talking after Prince Philip’s funeral after they made an impromptu decision to walk back to Windsor Castle rather than use the state cars which were waiting for them.  

Harry was initially seen speaking to his sister-in-law Kate but she appeared to hang back so he could talk to William for a few moments without her. 

The Sussexes accused the Royals of institutional racism during the bombshell 90-minute interview with Oprah. 

They claimed one member of the family – not the Queen or Prince Philip – questioned what colour their son Archie’s skin would be.

‘They are still very upset,’ the source added. ‘They are putting on a united front for the Queen. They all think he has behaved appallingly.’

The siblings maintained stony expressions as they walked behind their grandfather’s cortege before the funeral service. 

The Duke of Cambridge strode ahead of his brother as they entered the 15th Century chapel and inside the atmosphere remained frosty.

William sat with Kate directly opposite Harry but did not appear to make eye contact, instead preferring to focus his gaze towards his grandfather’s coffin.      

The new revelations in Mr Lacey’s book were revealed after it was reported yesterday that Harry and Meghan’s son Archie could be allowed to choose whether or not he becomes a prince when he turns 18.   

Mr Lacey said the Duke and Duchess of Sussex could follow in the footsteps of Earl and Countess of Wessex – who have not styled their children ‘prince’ or ‘princess’.

The couple’s children, James and Louise, are instead known as Viscount Severn and Lady Louise Windsor.

The siblings, who are 13th and 14th in line to the throne, will get a choice on whether to take royal titles or style themselves as HRH when they turn 18.

It comes amid claims, first reported in the Mail on Sunday, that Prince Charles will ensure that Archie will never be a prince as part of his plan for a slimmed-down Monarchy.

However, Lacey, told the Times that such a move does ‘not seem likely’.

He said: ‘It is possible that Prince Charles may try to remove royal status from the Sussex children when he comes to the throne but that does not seem likely.

‘His priority then will be to gain popular support for upgrading the status of Camilla from princess consort to queen consort, and he is not likely to court unpopularity by removing HRH status from Archie and Lili.’

Meanwhile, palace insiders have reportedly told the Times that the Prince of Wales does not have the power to stop Archie from becoming a prince.

According to the paper, under the current system, Archie will automatically become a prince when the Queen dies and Prince Charles ascends to the throne.

Therefore, the only way that Archie could be prevented from becoming a prince is if the Queen decides to change the rules.

However, Lacey told the Times: ‘It is clear to me that the Queen and her advisers have discussed this issue at the highest level, and that the future royal status of Archie and Lili is not in jeopardy in her lifetime.’