An explosive new report has revealed that Prince Harry once explored changing his family surname to his mother, Princess Diana’s maiden name – Spencer.
The Mail on Sunday broke the news on June 1st, revealing that the father-of-two had previously sought advice from his uncle Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, about implementing the name change.
However, following a brief period of discussion that took place in person on a rare visit by the Duke of Sussex to Britain, the Prince was informed that such a change would be all but impossible due to the “insurmountable” legal hurdles.
“They had a very amicable conversation and Spencer advised him against taking such a step,” a friend of Harry’s told the publication.
It is believed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had wanted to change their family’s last name to Spencer amidst ongoing delays by British officials to issue passports for their children.
Speaking with the Guardian, an insider source said that Harry and Meghan feared that the delays stemmed from concerns that the applications included the titles HRH (His/Her Royal Highness) and the last name Sussex – something that King Charles reportedly didn’t want.
“The King hadn’t wanted Archie and Lili to carry 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 source told the publication.
“There was a clear reluctance to issue passports for the kids.”
The source added: “Harry was at a point where British passports for his children with their updated Sussex surnames (since the death of Queen Elizabeth II) were being blocked with a string of excuses.”
“Out of sheer exasperation he went to his uncle to effectively say: ‘My family are supposed to have the same name and they’re stopping that from happening because the kids are legally HRH, so if push comes to shove, if this blows up and they won’t let the kids be called Sussex, then can we use Spencer as a surname?’”
However, Buckingham Palace has since strongly denied to The Telegraph that the King, or any palace aides, had any involvement in the delays the Sussex family experienced obtaining passports.
Despite the average wait time being three weeks, the couple reportedly waited six months for Lilibet and Archie’s passports, which were eventually issued after their lawyers sent a letter threatening to legally pursue a data subject access request.
If this had taken place, the reasoning behind the delays could have been made public, including any behind-the-scenes discussions between the British officials responsible for issuing these documents and the royal family at large.
Royal author Tom Bower has previously claimed that Meghan wanted nothing more in life than to be more like Diana.
“If the name change had succeeded, Meghan’s daughter, who is believed to have met the King only once, would have become Lilibet Diana Spencer, a more fulsome tribute to Harry’s late mother,” he wrote in a recent royal biography.
While Prince Harry doesn’t have an official surname, Mountbatten-Windsor is the surname available to the descendants of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
Combining the Royal Family’s name of Windsor and the late Duke of Edinburgh’s adopted surname, it’s a name that both Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet currently share on their birth certificates.
On the Royal Family’s official website, the children are listed as Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.
While Mountbatten-Windsor is a surname that technically Meghan, Duchess of Sussex could also claim through her marriage to Harry, she is more frequently identified as ‘Meghan Sussex’ – similar to Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh who is still frequently referred to as ‘Sophie Wessex’ due to her former title as Duchess of Wessex.
Speaking in episode two of her Netflix series, With Love, Meghan, the 43-year-old, confirmed that she saw herself as ‘Meghan Sussex’ formally for the first time in a discussion with her guest Mindy Kaling.
“I share my name with my children,” she confirmed.
“I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me, but it just means so much to go ‘This is OUR family name. Our little family name.”
