Prince Harry and Meghan Markle chose unusual names for their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, and one of them caused quite the controversy.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet have been largely kept out of the spotlight since their parents moved to the United States.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex bade farewell to Harry’s home country and stepped down as working royals before they moved across the pond in early 2020.

Since then, they’ve been raising Archie and Lilibet away from the public gaze at their lavish mansion in Montecito, California.

But both of the children’s names caused quite a stir back in the day when they were first announced, as they were not the typical names given to royal children.

Prince Archie Harrison of Sussex was born on May 6, 2019 in London. His first name, Archie means “genuine”, “bold” or “brave” and used to be a shortened version of the name Archibald but now it’s used on its own.

His second name, Harrison, has two origins with two different meanings. In Germany, it means “ruler of the house” and in England, it means, quite fittingly, “son of Harry”.

However, it was Princess Lilibet’s name that caused the most controversy and created a media storm when she was born.

Princess Lilibet Diana of Sussex was born on June 4, 2021, in Santa Barbara, California.

After her arrival, her parents said in a statement: “On June 4th, we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter, Lili. 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.”

The young royal’s name is a sweet nod to her great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth who was affectionately named ‘Lilibet’ when she was little, and her late grandmother, Princess Diana.

Harry and Meghan said in their birth announcement: “Lili is named after her great-grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen, whose family nickname is Lilibet. Her middle name, Diana, was chosen to honour her beloved late grandmother, The Princess of Wales.”

Even though after her birth Buckingham Palace said Elizabeth, Charles and other senior royals had been informed and were “delighted with the news”, Lili’s name caused quite the controversy after it was claimed that the Sussexes did not seek the late Queen’s approval to name their daughter after her.

At the time, the Palace statement read: “The Queen, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been informed and are delighted with the news of the birth of a daughter for The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.”

But this year a new book titled Charles III: New King, New Court, The Inside Story by Robert Hardman, alleged: “One [aide] privately recalled that Elizabeth II had been ‘as angry as I’d ever seen her’ in 2021 after the Sussexes announced that she had given them her blessing to call their baby daughter ‘Lilibet’, the Queen’s childhood nickname.”

Reports at the time claimed the late Queen was consulted about the name, but did not feel able to say no, whereas the BBC reported that a Palace source said Elizabeth was not asked by the Sussexes whether they could use the name.

Meanwhile, the Sussexes’s lawyers reportedly sent legal letters to the BBC and other publishers saying the claim was false and defamatory, while their spokesperson insisted they spoke to the late monarch.

According to Hardman, Queen Elizabeth allegedly told Palace aides: “I don’t own the palaces or the paintings, only my name, and now they’ve taken that.”