This is the reason why Prince Harry altered his surname, with the announcement being made in his wife’s new lifestyle series.
During the second episode of Meghan Markle’s new Netflix programme, With Love, Meghan, she notified actress Mindy Kaling that she no longer goes by Markle.
Instead, she vowed that The Office star call her by her actual surname – Sussex.
“It’s so funny, too, that you keep saying Meghan Markle. You know I’m Sussex now,” she said.
“‘I share my name with my children. I didn’t know how meaningful that would be to me, but it just means so much to go, ‘This is our family name, our little family name’.”
This moment triggered mass conversation online, causing many to wonder whether Sussex really is Meghan and Prince Harry’s family name, and, if so, when did it change?
Born on September 15, 1984, Harry was named Henry Charles Albert David.
So instead of Harry Mountbatten-Windsor, Harry was given the surname Wales, due to his parents Princess Diana and Prince Charles (now King Charles III) being the Princess and Prince of Wales, respectively.
When Meghan married Harry, she became the Duchess of Sussex, thus losing her Markle surname to become Meghan Sussex.
Interestingly though, it’s understood that when the couple’s son Prince Archie was born in May 2019, he was listed as Master Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor on his birth certificate.
It’s also said that when their daughter Lilibet was born, her official name was Miss Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. However, their surnames officially altered when their great-grandmother Elizabeth passed away in September 2022.
The palace website was updated to change the new line of succession following Lilibet’s christening in March 2023.
Therefore, Archie and Lilibet were now known as Prince Archie Sussex and Princess Lilibet Sussex.
