Meghan Markle denies ‘snub’ to royal family after her name was changed on Archie’s birth certificate

Change was reportedly made at request of the royal family

Meghan Markle has denied reports that she requested her real name be removed from Archie’s birth certificate.

On Saturday, The Sun reported that a month after the Duchess of Sussex gave birth to her and Prince Harry’s son Archie in May 2019, she had the birth certificate edited to remove “Rachel Meghan” and leave just “Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Sussex”.

According to the outlet, the move could be seen as “a snub to the Cambridges who have included Kate’s names on her children’s certificates”. 

A spokesperson for the duchess has since addressed the claim, denying that the change was requested by Meghan, nor a calculated “snub”.

“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,” a statement to The Independent read.

They added that the outlet’s claim of a potential “snub” would be “laughable were it not offensive”.

“To see this UK 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,” the statement continued. “There’s a lot going on in the world; let’s focus on that rather than creating clickbait.”

Archie’s birth certificate was released by Buckingham Palace on 17 May 2019, where it was revealed that the child, whose full name is Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, was not given a royal title.

The duke and duchess, who stepped down from their roles as senior members of the royal family last year, have since relocated to California with their son, who will turn two on 6 May.

In December, royal fans heard Archie speak for the first time when he made a guest appearance on the duke and duchess’s new podcast.

During the holiday special episode, which was released as part of the couple’s new partnership with Spotify, the one-and-a-half-year-old tried his hand at hosting at the prompting of his parents. 

“You can speak into it,” Prince Harry could be heard telling his son, before Meghan asked: “Archie, is it fun?”

The toddler replied: “Fun," before later wishing listeners a "Happy New Year" with the help of the duke and duchess.