Podcast 88 – Not yet a week old & already a media storm over Meghan and Harry's Baby Lilibet

Baby Lili is not yet a week old and already the media are gunning for bad news to spew about her. If this is how Lili’s life is to be from now on,  this poor little child doesn’t stand a chance. 

So what is the drama. The fuss is over Meghan and Harry’s decision to give their daughter the first name Lilibet a nickname also used for the Queen by close family members.

When the announcement of Lili’s birth was made by Meghan and Harry on June 6th the whole world was cooing about how lovely it was,  for Meghan and Harry to have honoured the Queen by choosing Lilibet as their baby girl’s first name and Diana as the middle name. There was a day of grace when it seemed that hardly anyone had anything bad to say about Meghan and Harry. 

Harry’s Royal relatives were very happy for Meghan, Happy and Archie, with Kate and William and Princess Eugenie posting their well wishes on social media and even on the Queen’s twitter account. The choice of name was acknowledged in the Queen’s message saying “Congratulations to The Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the birth of Lilibet Diana! The Queen, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted with the news.” 

By then end of Friday the media claws started coming back out. True to form,  it was the UK Daily Mail newspaper who in their June 6th article written by Royal Commentator Richard Kay, first sewed a seed of doubt as to whether Meghan and Harry had sought the Queen’s permission prior to naming their daughter Lilibet.  In his article, Mr. Kay throws in the little hint of controversy when he writes “Such is the closeness between grandmother and grandson many will assume Harry must have sought her permission to use such a private name.”

This one sentence then set off a tsunami of media reports all now outright alledging either (1) that Harry did not seek the Queen’s permission prior to naming his daughter Lilibet or (2) Prince Harry presented his request in such a way that the Queen had no choice but to agree. 

The story continued to grow and grow. Things really heated up when Jonny Dymond,  the Royal correspondent for the BBC news,  wrote an article saying  that according to unnamed Palace sources, the Queen was not asked by Meghan and Harry about naming their daughter Lilibet.

Meghan and Harry brought in their official spokespeople & a statement was issued to say:  “The Duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement,  in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called,” .. “During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honour. Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name.”

Sadly now the lawyers are all involved with law firm Schillings, which acts for Harry and Meghan, reportedly saying that the BBC report that the Queen was not asked for permission to use the name Lilibet was false and defamatory and should not be repeated

And Lili is not yet 7 days old at this point. 

And what of Mr. Kay at the Daily Mail the man whose comment started off the whole ruckus. Well in his article today he asks is there nothing Harry and Meghan do that doesn't involve a row? Mr. Kay adds how desperately sad that even something so uplifting as the birth of their new baby is accompanied by thundering controversy. 

So there we have it Mr. Kay blames Harry for creating the storm when Harry is merely reacting to the storm that Mr. Kay  helped cause. And that folks is how sneaky the UK press are.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all thing

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/