Meghan Markle's Rep Slammed Claims She "Snubbed" Kate Middleton

published 2 February 2021

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry recently changed their names on son Archie Harrison's birth certificate.
Meghan's representative shut down "offensive" tabloid claims that the move was somehow a "snub" to Kate Middleton and Prince William.
The Duchess of Sussex's rep revealed that the palace requested the change.

Last week, reports surfaced that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had changed their names on son Archie Harrison's birth certificate: Meghan switched out her first and middle names, "Rachel Meghan," for her royal title, "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex," while Harry added "Prince" to his name, so the document now reads, "His Royal Highness Prince Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex."

Because they truly cannot leave Meghan alone, the tabloid media immediately began to suggest that the switch was a "snub" on Meghan's part, an effort to somehow show up Kate Middleton—who is an entirely unrelated party in this situation, you will note. "The unprecedented move could be seen as a snub to the Cambridges who have included Kate’s names on her children’s certificates," the Sun claimed. "It may also be viewed as Harry aligning his wife with mum Di, who always used 'Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales.'"

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Thankfully, Meghan's representative quickly stepped in to shut that nonsense down. "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," her representative told Hello!

"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," Meghan's spokesperson continued. "There’s a lot going on in the world; let’s focus on that rather than creating clickbait." And that's that!

Emily Dixon is a British journalist who’s contributed to CNN, Teen Vogue, Time, Glamour, The Guardian, Wonderland, The Big Roundtable, Bust, and more, on everything from mental health to fashion to political activism to feminist zine collectives. She’s also a committed Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and Tracee Ellis Ross fan, an enthusiastic but terrible ballet dancer, and a proud Geordie lass.