This year, Meghan Markle has emphasized that “Sussex” is the surname she shares with Prince Harry and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet of Sussex. But a recent report from The Guardian revealed that a recent passport snafu led the duke and duchess to consider giving their children different legal names.
According to the newspaper, Harry and Meghan applied for British passports for their children, which were so delayed that the couple’s lawyers sent a letter expressing a desire to request access to the information under the terms of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a data protection law. Days after the letter was sent, The Guardian reports, the UK government issued passports for Archie and Lili.
“There was clear reluctance to issue passports for the kids,” a source close to Meghan and Harry told the newspaper. “The king hadn’t wanted Archie and Lili to carry the titles, most of all the HRH, and the British passports, once created, would be the first and perhaps the only legal proof of their names.”
A spokesperson for the couple told Vanity Fair, “We do not comment on private issues pertaining to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s children.”
The behind-the-scenes discussions about the Sussex children and the complicated subject of their legal names has been in the news recently after the Mail on Sunday’s Richard Eden reported that the couple once considered changing their legal names to “Spencer,” the maiden name of Princess Diana. VF understands that Prince Harry once spoke to his maternal uncle Charles Spencer about the family name but did not pursue a legal name change.
“He’s now closer to his mother’s family than his immediate family,” a source close to the family told VF. “At one point Harry mooted the idea of taking the Spencer name, but rejected it because he knew it would be way too controversial and yet another legal headache.”
Spencer has been a source of support for Harry during the last few years. “Harry is very close to his maternal side of the family, and in all of this his uncle Earl Spencer has been a shoulder to cry on,” the source added. “Harry has stayed with his uncle when he’s been over in the UK and is always invited to join the Spencers for Christmas.”
