In 2019, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle welcomed their first child, Archie. Two years later, they had a daughter, choosing a name that sparked controversy: Lilibet. Although named in honor of Queen Elizabeth, critics questioned the decision, especially since the couple had already stepped away from royal duties.

Lilibet was born in California and only met the Queen once. That meeting reportedly didn’t go as Harry and Meghan had hoped—Elizabeth declined to take a photo with her great-granddaughter. According to a royal author, Harry should have foreseen the backlash the name might bring.

In his memoir Spare, Harry didn’t shy away from criticizing the Royal Family. He shared candid insights into life as a royal, touching on issues with King Charles, Camilla, William, and Kate. He even revealed he wasn’t invited to visit William and Kate’s home when Prince George was young and expressed concern that Charlotte and Louis might end up feeling like “spares,” as he had.

Despite these tensions, Harry also wrote about the joy surrounding the births of Archie and Lilibet. Archie was born in London’s Portland Hospital, with Harry determined to avoid media attention. By contrast, Lilibet’s birth in Santa Barbara, California, was kept largely private. The couple issued a brief statement:

“Lili was born on Friday, June 4, at 11:40 a.m. in the trusted care of the doctors and staff at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital… Both mother and child are healthy and well and settling in at home.”

Family members did congratulate the couple, even amid strained relations. Harry and Meghan had earlier revealed during their Oprah interview that they were expecting a girl and that she would be their last child. Speculation around her name began immediately.

While Archie Harrison had no royal ties in name, Lilibet’s did. Though many expected the couple might name their daughter Diana, sources said they feared that might place undue pressure on her. Instead, they chose Lilibet—a name Queen Elizabeth used for herself as a toddler, famously coined because she couldn’t pronounce her own name. The Queen’s grandfather, King George V, used the nickname, and it stuck within the close family circle. Prince Philip was among the few who called her Lilibet, once writing, “Lilibet is the only ‘thing’ in the world which is absolutely real to me.”

Though the gesture appeared touching, royal experts weren’t all pleased. Some saw it as a step too far. Richard Kay wrote in the Daily Mail, “By giving the baby the name Lilibet… there is a risk. Will it be seen as a presumptuous choice?” He questioned how Prince Charles might feel, given that even he never used the intimate nickname.

Kay also speculated whether Harry would have made the same choice had Prince Philip still been alive, as he had been the only family member permitted to use that name. He noted that royal courtiers likely felt discomfort at what seemed another break from tradition by the Sussexes.

Angela Levin echoed the sentiment, telling Good Morning Britain that the Queen may have been offended. “It was a very private nickname,” she said, adding that even Charles never used it. She called the choice “demeaning.”

Lilibet met some members of her British family a year after her birth. Her first birthday was celebrated at Frogmore Cottage, which remained Harry and Meghan’s UK home until recently. The couple received a birthday cake, as shown in their Netflix documentary. While William and Kate were reportedly invited in a gesture of goodwill, they didn’t attend. Queen Elizabeth did make a quiet appearance, but no photos were released.

According to The Sun, Harry and Meghan had hoped to capture a photo of the Queen with her great-granddaughter. However, royal expert Camilla Tominey wrote that Elizabeth declined, citing a bloodshot eye and a wish to avoid public images from what she considered a private moment.

Royal author Tom Quinn, in Guilded Youth: An Intimate History of Growing Up in the Royal Family, criticized the decision, stating Harry “surely would have known” that using the Queen’s personal nickname might be seen as “disrespectful and intrusive.” He noted that naming their daughter Elizabeth wouldn’t have stirred the same controversy.

Quinn argued that some experts viewed the name as a calculated move to boost the couple’s “royal currency,” despite their departure from royal life. Though biographer Gyles Brandreth claimed the Queen was “touched” by the name choice, she never publicly shared her thoughts on it.

Quinn suggested the issue reflected deeper cultural differences. “Meghan would never have thought naming her daughter Lilibet was anything other than a huge compliment; in the UK, it looks like an impertinence,” he said. “This is emblematic of many of Meghan’s difficulties.”