Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are overjoyed after the birth of their second child, a baby girl.
“On June 4th, we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter, Lili,” the couple said in a message posted to the website of their foundation, Archewell, on Sunday. “She is more than we could have ever imagined, and we remain grateful for the love and prayers we’ve felt from across the globe. Thank you for your continued kindness and support during this very special time for our family.”
The couple said in a statement shared with HuffPost that they named their baby Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor to honour Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, as her family nickname is “Lilibet.” Lili’s middle name, Diana, is a nod to the duke’s late mother, Princess Diana. Little Lili was born on Friday at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California, and weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces.
The duke and duchess are both taking parental leave and will not be releasing a photo at this time, which indicates they are continuing to chart their own course since stepping back as working members of the royal family last year.
In the past, some royals (including Princess Diana and Kate Middleton) have announced the birth of their babies and then posed for photos with their newborns as they leave the hospital. Names are generally released a few days after the birth.
It was previously thought that Meghan and Harry did not want to pose for photos with their now-2-year-old son, Archie, when he was born, but the Duchess of Sussex told Oprah Winfrey in March that that narrative wasn’t entirely true.
“It feels to me like things started to change when you and Harry decided that you were not going to take the picture that had been part of the tradition for years?” Winfrey asked them during the interview.
“We weren’t asked to take a picture. That’s also part of the spin that was really damaging. I thought, ‘Can you just tell them the truth? Can you say to the world you’re not giving him a title and we want to keep him safe, and that if he’s not a prince, then it’s not part of the tradition? Just tell people and then they’ll understand,’” the duchess said. “But they wouldn’t do that.”
Winfrey followed up by asking Meghan, “Was there a specific reason why you didn’t want to be a part of that tradition? I think many people interpreted that as you were both saying, ‘We’re going to do things our way?’”
Meghan said that wasn’t what the couple intended at all.
“So picture, now that you know what was going on behind the scenes, there was a lot of fear surrounding it,” the duchess said.
“I was very scared of having to offer up our baby knowing that they weren’t going to be kept safe,” she added, referencing her comments elsewhere in the interview that the royal family wasn’t going to offer Archie security protection.