Featured Image Credit: Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, Meghan Markle, Parenting, Prince Archie, Royal Family, Prince Harry
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: Celebrity, Meghan Markle, Parenting, Prince Archie, Royal Family, Prince Harry
Ever since Meghan Markle's brand-new lifestyle series, With Love, Meghan, dropped earlier this week, there's been a massive confusion over her and her family's names.
The confusion over the situation heightened after people watched one episode of Meghan's new Netflix show where she explained to her friend Mindy Kaling more about her choice of surname.
Since then, a renewed interested in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's monikers - along with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet's - has only intensified.
For context, it all started when Mindy said in the episode: "I don't think anyone in the world knows that Meghan Markle has eaten Jack In The Box and loves it, in response to an admission Meghan made about eating the takeout food.
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The mum-of-two pointed out that she found it 'funny' that Mindy called her 'Meghan Markle'.
"It's so funny you keep saying Meghan Markle, you know I'm Sussex now," she explained. "You have kids and you go 'No, I share my name with my children'.
"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'."
In response, Mindy said: "Well, now I know and I love it."
Now, after leaving the monarchy, the late Queen Elizabeth II reportedly asked Meghan and Harry to refrain from using the brand name 'Sussex Royal' which was previously their Instagram handle and the name of their website.
The pair later chose to use 'Archewell' for their website and production company.
Don’t have Netflix? If you want to watch With Love, Meghan in the UK, you can sign up for a Sky Essential TV bundle that includes Netflix for £15 per month. If you’re based in the US, you can tune in with Verizon’s bestselling Netflix and Max bundle ($10 per month). T&Cs apply.
Archie and Lilibet's titles, which were originally Mountbatten-Windsor, changed when King Charles III took the throne, meaning the two children moved up in the line of succession and received the new titles of Prince and Princess of Sussex after previously being Master Archie and Miss Lilibet.
Well, it's a royal family name, which is commonly used by members of the royal family without HRH or prince/princess titles - hence why the pair were given this surname at birth.
The name itself is a combination of 'Mountbatten' from the late Prince Philip’s side, and 'Windsor' from the late Queen's family.
It's tradition for British princes and princesses to use their parents' titles as last names - something both Harry and Prince William did who went by 'William Wales' and 'Harry Wales' in school.
So, by adopting the Sussex surname, Meghan and Harry - who are the 'Duke and Duchess of Sussex' - are simply following tradition while being able to finally all share the same last name as a family unit.
Now, the whole name thing doesn't stop there as Prince Archie - the eldest of Meghan and Harry's two two children - was welcomed to the world back in 2019 and was given the full name and surname 'Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor' at the time, with the name having been handed to him and his younger sister Lilibet before their grandfather King Charles ascended to the throne in 2022.
What is more interesting, however, is that Harry signed the document - which was subsequently obtained by Harper's Bazaar - 'His Royal Highness Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex'.
Yep, Harry's actual name is isn't Harry at all - it's Henry.
Long-term English tradition says that men named Henry have been nicknamed 'Harry' - hence the change.
Little Archie's birth certificate also revealed Meghan's real name which reads 'Rachel Meghan Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex'.
Meghan recently opened up about the personal significance of her family-of-four all having the same surname.
In a recent interview with PEOPLE, the Suits star explained that the Sussex surname - which was bestowed upon her and Harry by the Queen on their wedding day back in 2018 - 'means a lot' to her and her Harry.
"It’s our shared name as a family, and I guess I hadn’t recognised how meaningful that would be to me until we had children," Meghan shared. "I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H and I all have together. It means a lot to me."
She added that the Sussex name is 'part of our love story'.