OPINION | The curiosities of Lilibet Diana, the name of Harry and Meghan’s daughter

Editor’s note: Mari Rodríguez Ichaso has been a contributor to Vanidades magazine for several decades. She is a specialist in fashion, travel, gastronomy, art, architecture and entertainment, film producer and style columnist for CNN en Español. The opinions expressed in this column are solely his own. Read more opinion pieces at cnne.com/opinion.

(CNN Spanish) – It is very curious that the birth of little Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor – the daughter of Prince Harry and Meghan, Dukes of Sussex – is already provoking so much curiosity and such varied comments!

The little girl, born in Los Angeles on June 4, 2021, weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces (3,486 kilograms). According to a source from People magazine, It has already been presented to her great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, in a video call, via Zoom!, And, as we all know, it will be named Lilibet Diana, in honor of the monarch and her grandmother, Princess Diana, and they will call you with the affectionate nickname of Lili!

A gesture that I really like and has made a very good impression on most of those who follow the royals and sympathize with the children of the unforgettable Diana of Wales. Also a gesture that has provoked negative comments, such as those of Angela Levin, an English biographer who has written a lot about the royal family (including “Harry: A Biography of a Prince and” Diana’s Babies “). Levin said on the show “Good Morning Britain” It is disrespectful that as soon after the death of Prince Felipe, the affectionate nickname that only the prince said to the queen was used as the girl’s name.

This child nickname – which the queen herself created as a child, because she could not pronounce Elizabeth and said her name was Lilibet – was used by her grandparents, her parents, her sister, Princess Margaret, and her cousins, when she was only Princess Elizabeth. Nobody imagined that one day his uncle, King Edward VIII, would abdicate the throne for the American divorcee Wallis Simpson, who would later be King George VI and Elizabeth would succeed him as queen! A nickname that, years later, Prince Felipe adopted,who affectionately called her like that! Now that her parents, her younger sister, Princess Margaret, and now her husband – her closest circle – have died, we don’t know if there is anyone else who will call the queen Lilibet.

I think it was a spontaneous loving tribute. The Buckingham Palace Press Office was quick to deny the comments. that they had NOT asked the queen for permission -But, be that as it may, I do not think it is a protocol problem, but a family matter, and I do not doubt that Harry wanted to soften with this tribute to his grandmother for the sad disagreements that have existed since the prince and Meghan moved to California, gave television (Oprah Winfrey’s) and radio interviews, airing very unpleasant episodes and talking about how life within the royal family affected her. They were very personal and very private comments (which I personally consider unnecessary to air in public instead of speaking as a family) – those that since they have come to light, have greatly divided, not only the royal family, but also a large part of the citizenship.

Everything that happened with Harry and Meghan has complicated relations between them and the royal family, and has caused disappointment and sadness, according to reports. And some English – and I know that because I travel a lot to the United Kingdom and have many English friends – are very protective of the queen, whom they admire for her stoicism and for her love of the country, and they do not tolerate offense or attack. . And many statements by Harry have involved criticism of his grandmother and her way of raising their children, such as last May, on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast, where he spoke of his mental health problems, and criticized the Cold way as his father raised him, “in a mixture of the Truman Show and a zoo”, where he suffered a lot, including “neglect” of affections.

Harry attributed this to Prince Charles having received the same coldness from his parents – Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip – and that he wanted to break that chain and raise his children differently. An understandable opinion, but – in my opinion – very hard to be aired in public, and even more so a few days after the death of her grandfather, when the queen was very sad, with “a great emptiness in her life”, according to said his son Prince Andrew.

So from birth, the existence of little Lilibet – who will be called Lili – will surely give much to talk about. The girl will have dual citizenship, of the United States and the United Kingdom, and according to the protocol she will only receive the title of princess when her grandfather, Prince Charles, ascended to the throne. His birth has already caused joy and also conflicting opinions. And don’t forget that Prince William and Kate had already gone ahead – their daughter’s name, Princess Charlotte, is Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, in honor of her great-grandmother and grandmother!

Another curious fact? As Meghan wrote in her now-defunct blog The Tig, when she was little she had several nicknames, including Meg, M&M and Flower, which was the one her mother, Doria Ragland, always told her and still calls her! And to call Lili after a flower – like the lily of the valley, which the Duchess of Sussex loves – will be to have at home a ‘flower’ as she was, and has always been, for her mother. Cute, right?