6 royal baby names that broke British tradition: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle caused a stir with ‘Lilibet Diana’ – but so did Zara Tindall, Princess Anne and Peter Phillips

Jun 17 , 2021

Meghan Markle with her son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, Princess Eugenie’s son August Philip Hawke Brooksbank and Zara Tindall with her daughter Lena. Photos: @princesseugenie; @zara_tindall/Instagram

Only Prince Philip and a few close relatives called Queen Elizabeth ‘Lilibet’ – but even Archie was considered a break with convention just two years ago

Princess Eugenie named her son August after the middle name of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, while Prince Charles chose his niece Zara Tindall’s name

Following the fallout to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s latest controversy, the naming of their second child Lilibet Diana – the intimate nickname used to address Queen Elizabeth by her grandfather King George V, father King George VI, husband Prince Philip and a few close relatives – we look at a few other royal names that strayed from tradition, causing a few raised eyebrows at the time.

Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, with their son Archie on day three of their tour of Africa in September 2019. Photo: PA Wire/DPA

Team Sussex struck again: the duke and duchess’ choice of name for their first born Archie Harrison, now aged two, blindsided most bookies whose odds veered towards more classic royal names.

Expedia collated a list of the most popular British royal names of the past 200 years and the top five are Albert (No 1 with 12 uses), George (10), Charles (eight), Edward (seven) and Christian (five).

Meghan Markle, Prince Harry and their son Archie Harrison. Photo: @archieharrison.mountbatten/Instagram

It was not too surprising that the royal rebels chose to go against tradition though.

Archie means “archer” and Harrison means “son of Harry”. And if Prince Charles becomes king, Harry and Meghan’s son might just become the first Prince Archie.

August Philip Hawke Brooksbank