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01 February 2021

Palace made changes to Archie’s birth certificate, Meghan Markle’s spokesperson says

01 February 2021

The Duchess of Sussex’s first names were removed from her son’s birth certificate by Buckingham Palace, a spokesperson for Meghan has claimed.

Meghan’s representative also criticised newspaper coverage of the changes made to Archie’s birth document, claiming the reporting attempted to “whip this into a calculated family ‘snub'” when there were other issues in the world to focus on.

Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was born on May 6 2019 and when his birth was officially registered the duchess gave her name as “Rachel Meghan Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex”.

Meghan and Harry presented their son to the world a few days after he was born. Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire (PA Wire)

But the certificate was amended on June 6 that year to remove her first names.

In another change, Harry’s title of Prince was added so the document read “His Royal Highness Prince Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex”.

The Sun on Sunday reported: “The unprecedented 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 said: “The change of name on public documents in 2019 was dictated by the Palace, as confirmed by documents from senior Palace officials.

Harry and Meghan have begun a new life in America after stepping down as senior royals. Yui Mok/PA Wire (PA Archive)

“This was not requested by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex nor by The Duke of Sussex.

“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.

“There’s a lot going on in the world; let’s focus on that rather than creating clickbait.”

It is not clear why the changes were made and Buckingham Palace has declined to comment.

But the amendments have been put down to fixing a clerical error, according to some reports quoting sources.

On Prince George’s birth certificate, the first names of the Duchess of Cambridge – Catherine Elizabeth – are listed.

But the Duke of Cambridge’s birth certificate does not feature the names of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, and the record of Princess Beatrice’s birth omits the names of her mother Sarah, Duchess of York.

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