Birth of Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor: June 4, 2021

[Katymcwaity]

I think I have finally got to the point where I am not going to read or watch or be interested in anything these two do. Its sad that the name is overshadowing a lovely event. I think they were naive if they thought no one would think it a bit much to use his Grandmothers pet name especially after trashing the family so publicly. But You can generally called your child what you like (unless you live in Iceland apparently)

[Royalist.in.NC]

Originally Posted by Osipi

One thing does stand out for me with the Sussexes taking on the BBC and threatening "legal action" is that it does accomplish something.

It's like dangling a carrot before a horse, Whenever someone writes and prints something in regards to the Sussexes, they're guaranteed to get a reaction and those reactions generate more stories and interest by the public and the end result then is.... (drum roll please).... more green dollars in the pocket.

Harry and Meghan are getting pretty darned good at playing the PR game. Sometimes it makes me wonder if the name "Lilibet" was chosen because they *knew* it would create controversy. Perhaps the chances are slim to none that this actually happened as I don't think any human being would use their child this way but just the fact that it *could* be a possibility indicates how much they do need any kind of PR to remain relevant in today's world.

My adult daughter who knows little about the Sussexes said just that: that it sounded like they were using this name for payback and attention and what kind of parent would do that?

I really think these two are so full of their own importance, that they may not honestly see how tone deaf they are.

[Royalist.in.NC]

Originally Posted by camelot23ca

Of course they knew naming the baby Lillibet would invite comment and strong opinions from the public and press. They can name their child whatever they want, for whatever reasons they choose, but giving her this particular name guaranteed them attention, publicity and controversy. Certainly the Sussex publicity and legal machine was primed and ready to go from the moment the announcement was made.

They are good at the PR game, and they and their team have had the philosophy that any publicity is good publicity from the start. Harry and Meghan aren’t victims here; they would have made this decision with their eyes wide open.

If the reason behind the name was really to honour the Queen, they’d have made the announcement and then gone into hibernation. No Omid Scobie and other lap dogs arguing for them in the media, and certainly no threat of legal action because of a BBC article that people would forget about in less than 24 hours if they left it alone. Their daughter is a private citizen, they don’t need to engage with the media or defend their decision, full stop.

Instead they’re on the phone with their PR and legal teams, doing all they can to prolong a sh*t storm that they helped create and that didn’t need to happen. It’s truly sad that this is how they’re choosing to spend their time when they could be ignoring the whole world and focusing completely on their newborn daughter.

Wow, this is so well stated. It is really, really sad but I agree with what you’ve said.

[soapstar]

I know everyone has strong feelings about the name and about this latest BBC news, but please be respectful of each other. There is no need to derail the thread with back and forth bickering.

Also some of you seem to be forgetting the earlier mod note. So here it is again.

As with other threads about new royal babies, Lili's names will be discussed. Some people may like the name and some people may not. There is no need to take it personally, nor is there a need to fight over it.

Going forward please stick to discussing the name and stay away from lecturing your fellow members/assigning motives about why they do, or don’t like the name.

[Heavs]

Maybe this goes in here to separate this latest spat from Baby Lili herself.

Apparently the Sussexes have now sent legal letters to every major British media outlet warning them not to repeat the "defamatory" BBC story. Which doesn't seem to have had much affect as they're all running both stories most leading with "Harry goes to war with BBC over name story" and then repeating the original quote from Palace Source.

It bears pointing out that the Palace has so far not put out a statement or another "source" disavowing the report this morning.

It appears that once again the Sussexes are trying to control the media which is an impossible task.

In spite of all this legal drama still no one is able to put out a statement that says "we asked for specific permission to use the specific name Lilibet within the last few days/weeks and HM was delighted to specifically grant the request."

It's all weasel wording and this is the same Harry that used a phone call with HM before Megxit to claim that HM had agreed to all their HIHO demands and courtiers were just overstepping/vengeful/wrong when that was clearly not true.

They have a brand new baby girl and they seem very focused on the media. If they let this go the questions over her name would die down in a few days

[Prinsara]

Originally Posted by Heavs

They have a brand new baby girl and they seem very focused on the media. If they let this go the questions over her name would die down in a few days

They can't. Too focused on dictating their narrative to actually have a narrative they don't spin.

[_Heather_]

Brace yourselves, friends. Here comes the next round in Markle vs. Markle...
https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal...s-of-Sussex-vn

[Prinsara]

Originally Posted by _Heather_

Brace yourselves, friends. Here comes the next round in Markle vs. Markle...
https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal...s-of-Sussex-vn

Mind filling us in, for those of us who dislike giving tabloids clicks?

[_Heather_]

Originally Posted by Prinsara

Mind filling us in, for those of us who dislike giving tabloids clicks?

Evidently Mr. Markle has given an interview with 60 Minutes Australia. He says that he was not informed of Lili's birth and learned of it when he heard the news on the radio. He reiterates that he will be very disappointed if he does not get to hold his granddaughter. The trailer then shows him stating "You want dirty laundry? This is the first time I've discussed these things." It's not clear exactly what he might be discussing.

[Durham]

Originally Posted by ACO

I wonder if President Biden will be asked. His team has been asked about the Siussexes each time some big news story popped up and he is on his way to the UK now. Lili is an American member of the royal family. Will be interesting how he responds if they do.

That would be a whole other level of insanity. Where to even start with that one.

China
Covid
The economy
Russia
Nato
Lili M-W

Please let it happen. Talk about jumping the shark.

[Osipi]

And the plot thickens. With everything that has happened over the past couple of months, I swear that someone could turn all this into a weekly cringeworthy soap opera type reality show. I wonder if Edward would allow them to revive his program title "It's A Royal Knockout".

Where's my popcorn?

[_Heather_]

I had loads of time to kill while I was sitting on a conference call that I had to listen in to but not participate in and after much social media browsing and checking out the Twitter feeds of a few longtime royal reporters, they've made it quite clear in the last hour or so that the palace still has not issued anything at all disagreeing with the "Senior Palace Source" and that, in fact, they are being led to believe that HM wants it out there and known that she was displeased with being told and not asked. There are some carefully worded suggestions beginning to be bandied about that perhaps this was the final straw for the Palace and they will begin to subtley or not so subtley fight back. As a personal note, I'm going to bet that the BBC is 100% willing to stand by their story and likely has something to back it up since they appear to still have it up along with all of the other news media in the UK and there's loads of tweets from royal reporters that, as of this posting at least, have been left up. It will certainly be interesting to watch the next few days/weeks.

[Emme]

Originally Posted by _Heather_

So, I'm no fan of Harry and Meghan and I'll be the first to admit that I find much of their behavior questionable and worthy of some serious side-eye and a bit of shade throwing. That said, racism is never, ever okay and it's even less okay when it is aimed at children, in this case a newborn. While I suspect that the columnist thought she was being "edgy" and making fun of Harry and Meghan rather than Lili, she wasn't. She was just simply outing herself as a racist. Though the article does imply that this is not the first time she's been involved in these kinds of incidents. And the fact that she flatly refused to apologize is...well...I'm not really sure I have the words even though these sorts of people are rarely apologetic and even less rarely do they see their own errors and shortcomings. And for an added touch of "wow, really" she even went so far as to call Lili "it." Not "the baby" or "she" or even "the child" but "it." Anyway, here's the article in case anyone cares to read it.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/julie...b0fcee71a07a9e

She’s been (rightly) fired.

[Somebody]

Originally Posted by Royalist.in.NC

My adult daughter who knows little about the Sussexes said just that: that it sounded like they were using this name for payback and attention and what kind of parent would do that?

I really think these two are so full of their own importance, that they may not honestly see how tone deaf they are.

Just read Meghan's earlier statement about her father's actions that she "genuinely can't imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain" (to your child). I guess she doesn't consider their actions as potentially hurting their children but I am afraid that Archie and Lili might beg to differ in the future. And apparently, intentionally causing pain to your father, brother, grandparents and other family members is fine?!

[Heavs]

Originally Posted by Durham

That would be a whole other level of insanity. Where to even start with that one.

China
Covid
The economy
Russia
Nato
Lili M-W

Please let it happen. Talk about jumping the shark.

Yes, he might well be asked by some journalist. I doubt he'll reply in anything but the vaguest of terms no matter what he thinks. POTUS getting involved in a family disagreement about names? When he should be focused on the G7 et al. The UK government isn't thrilled about his talk over NI at the moment, something it's not unusual for US presidents to get involved in. Commenting on a baby or the RF in general? Nope. The Obamas were very neutral stressing "service and family" when they were asked for comments.

Besides a photo op with HM is still a rite of passage for US presidents and worth more to them than saying "Hey, Lili Di is American you know, stay out of her name Queenie!"

[Hallo girl]

Originally Posted by camelot23ca

Of course they knew naming the baby Lillibet would invite comment and strong opinions from the public and press. They can name their child whatever they want, for whatever reasons they choose, but giving her this particular name guaranteed them attention, publicity and controversy. Certainly the Sussex publicity and legal machine was primed and ready to go from the moment the announcement was made.

They are good at the PR game, and they and their team have had the philosophy that any publicity is good publicity from the start. Harry and Meghan aren’t victims here; they would have made this decision with their eyes wide open.

If the reason behind the name was really to honour the Queen, they’d have made the announcement and then gone into hibernation. No Omid Scobie and other lap dogs arguing for them in the media, and certainly no threat of legal action because of a BBC article that people would forget about in less than 24 hours if they left it alone. Their daughter is a private citizen, they don’t need to engage with the media or defend their decision, full stop.

Instead they’re on the phone with their PR and legal teams, doing all they can to prolong a sh*t storm that they helped create and that didn’t need to happen. It’s truly sad that this is how they’re choosing to spend their time when they could be ignoring the whole world and focusing completely on their newborn daughter.

I have tried so hard to keep out of this but you sum this whole mess up beautifully. Harry and Meghan know that the palace would never have made a comment with regards the existence or not of a conversion where the Queen was asked or told about the name, It would have remained a family matter.

By allowing Omid and I use the word for a reason to issue a comment that inferred she had agreed the name opened the can of worms.

I have made the comment before , the sentence out of the paragraph, they position things in a way to lead people down a road, while failing to correct if the wrong impression has been taken.
I do not have an opinion one way or another regarding the use of the name, the only comment I will make is why name a child one name and at the same time tell you she will be called a different name.

[Erin9]

Originally Posted by _Heather_

I had loads of time to kill while I was sitting on a conference call that I had to listen in to but not participate in and after much social media browsing and checking out the Twitter feeds of a few longtime royal reporters, they've made it quite clear in the last hour or so that the palace still has not issued anything at all disagreeing with the "Senior Palace Source" and that, in fact, they are being led to believe that HM wants it out there and known that she was displeased with being told and not asked. There are some carefully worded suggestions beginning to be bandied about that perhaps this was the final straw for the Palace and they will begin to subtley or not so subtley fight back. As a personal note, I'm going to bet that the BBC is 100% willing to stand by their story and likely has something to back it up since they appear to still have it up along with all of the other news media in the UK and there's loads of tweets from royal reporters that, as of this posting at least, have been left up. It will certainly be interesting to watch the next few days/weeks.

I think you’re probably correct all around.

And if HM herself/the Palace is fed up, I do find that understandable.

[ACO]

Originally Posted by Durham

That would be a whole other level of insanity. Where to even start with that one.

China
Covid
The economy
Russia
Nato
Lili M-W

Please let it happen. Talk about jumping the shark.

I really hope not but I never imagined they would be asked before either. I guess some of the UK journalist couldn't help themselves and now he will be on their soil!! LOL

[Alison H]

Originally Posted by _Heather_

Evidently Mr. Markle has given an interview with 60 Minutes Australia. He says that he was not informed of Lili's birth and learned of it when he heard the news on the radio. He reiterates that he will be very disappointed if he does not get to hold his granddaughter. The trailer then shows him stating "You want dirty laundry? This is the first time I've discussed these things." It's not clear exactly what he might be discussing.

That's a shame. I know they've fallen out, but could someone not have managed a text or an e-mail?

[Erin9]

Originally Posted by Heavs

Maybe this goes in here to separate this latest spat from Baby Lili herself.

Apparently the Sussexes have now sent legal letters to every major British media outlet warning them not to repeat the "defamatory" BBC story. Which doesn't seem to have had much affect as they're all running both stories most leading with "Harry goes to war with BBC over name story" and then repeating the original quote from Palace Source.

It bears pointing out that the Palace has so far not put out a statement or another "source" disavowing the report this morning.

It appears that once again the Sussexes are trying to control the media which is an impossible task.

In spite of all this legal drama still no one is able to put out a statement that says "we asked for specific permission to use the specific name Lilibet within the last few days/weeks and HM was delighted to specifically grant the request."

It's all weasel wording and this is the same Harry that used a phone call with HM before Megxit to claim that HM had agreed to all their HIHO demands and courtiers were just overstepping/vengeful/wrong when that was clearly not true.

They have a brand new baby girl and they seem very focused on the media. If they let this go the questions over her name would die down in a few days

Agreed all around.

I realize there will never be agreement on Meghan’s treatment by the media and what the appropriate response (if any) should have been.

But- regardless- I do think Harry and Meghan appear to be overly focused….obsessed may be a better word- with media coverage and trying to control it.

This legal path they are choosing to go down with the BBC is a perfect example. Just let it go….and the story goes away. (That isn’t to say let go of anything truly egregious, but this does not fall into that category IMO.) Just enjoy your baby.

And really all they had to do was release the lovely name and leave it at that. There wouldn’t have been a response if the Sussexes had stopped right there. But- they just can’t seem to do that. It’s constant pushing….