Not a "snub" to Duchess Kate

Meghan Markle Addresses Name Change On Archie's Birth Certificate Through Rep

Through a spokesperson, Duchess Meghan has addressed her and Prince Harry's name changes on Archie's birth certificate. In a statement, the rep said that the recently-discovered change from 2019 "was dictated by The Palace." The strongly-worded message also took aim at the "clickbait" angle in The Sun that suggested Meghan wanted the revision made to "snub" Duchess Kate. Read on for the full statement.

Duchess Meghan has cleared up the mystery surrounding her and Prince Harry's name changes on Archie's birth certificate — and it has nothing to do with Prince William and Duchess Kate.

On Saturday, The Sun discovered that Harry and Meghan changed their names on the document in June 2019, weeks after Archie's birth. On the revised birth certificate, Meghan removed her first and middle names from "Rachel Meghan Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex," while Prince Harry added his "Prince" title, which was not initially present. The newspaper speculated the change was a "snub" related to William and Kate, but Duchess Meghan has refuted that in a statement.

Meghan Markle: Statement on birth certificate name change

Today, a spokesperson for the Duchess of Sussex told ET: "The change of name on public documents in 2019 was dictated by The Palace, as confirmed by documents from senior Palace officials. This was not requested by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex nor by The Duke of Sussex."

The statement went on to call out the tabloid for its suggestion that the name change was a "snub" to Duchess Kate, as she had used her first name on her children's birth certificates.

It continued, "To see this U.K. tabloid and their carnival of so-called 'experts' choose to deceptively whip this into a calculated family 'snub' and suggest that she would oddly want to be nameless on her child's birth certificate, or any other legal document, would be laughable were it not offensive. There's a lot going on in the world; let's focus on that rather than creating clickbait."

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The "snub" suggestion arose from the timeline of the name changes, as The Sun connected the June 2019 revisions to the early moments of tensions between the Sussexes and the Cambridges months ahead of the royal exit.

Meghan Markle's name change on Archie's birth certificate not a "snub" to Duchess Kate.

Despite the statement addressing the changes, it remains unclear why the Palace ordered Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan to adjust their names on the birth certificate. But the spokesperson's tone appears to suggest it was forced upon the couple — see, why "she would oddly want to be nameless on her child's birth certificate."