Buckingham Palace offered to update the titles of Harry and Meghan’s children online — to make up for embarrassment over the couple’s eviction from Frogmore Cottage, friends have said.
Harry and Meghan made the decision to use Archie and Lilibet’s prince and princess titles last year — and shared their decision with the palace.
However, they were frustrated that the royal family failed to immediately recognise the children’s elevated status on its website following the death of Queen Elizabeth II — not least as the Prince and Princess of Wales’s titles, and those of their children, were swiftly changed.
There was no movement on the issue until a tabloid newspaper broke the news that the Sussexes had been asked to vacate their Windsor home.
They had been asked to give up Frogmore Cottage in January, but the news did not become public knowledge until March 1. The Sussexes only learnt then that the keys had been offered to the Duke of York. On the same day, the palace offered to update its website with Archie and Lilibet’s new titles.
One friend of the couple raised an eyebrow about the timing of such communication, which was interpreted as an attempt to curry favour or to smooth relations amid the public humiliation.
But Palace aides are highly unlikely to have known that the couple planned to make a public statement a week later, on March 8, about the christening — or that they would use the opportunity to confirm the use of Lilibet’s new title.
In the event, the website was not updated until last Wednesday when Harry and Meghan made the public announcement, initially via People magazine, that their daughter had been christened in California.
A royal source insisted that the palace had always planned to wait until the Sussexes chose to reveal the news themselves, rather than make the announcement on their behalf. Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
Meanwhile Archie and Lilibet are not currently invited to King Charle’s coronation, it is understood.
The Duke and Duchess were invited in recent weeks but it is understood recent correspondence from Buckingham Palace did not mention Archie, (3), or Lilibet (1).
The Sussexes, who have not yet confirmed if they will be attending the coronation at Westminster Abbey on May 6, have had no information about whether the children are included in the plans.
They are said to be currently weighing up the logistics of various options for attendance, as well as debating the more personal implications and the optics of each option in the context of a deep family rift. They are considered less likely to return to the UK in the future.
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2023]