On March 3, Princess Lilibet Diana was finally christened at home in Montecito. When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced the news, they made a point of using Lili’s royal title, and they later made a point of saying that there were conversations between Montecito and Buckingham Palace over the kids’ titles. Keep in mind, King Charles had been openly briefing the British media for months about how he felt like Lili and Archie’s titles needed to be “earned,” which is why the line of succession hadn’t been updated with their royal titles. Keep in mind that Archie and Lili have been prince and princess since the day QEII passed away too. It’s not about the Sussexes “wanting” this or that – it’s about “is.” Lili IS a princess, per the Letters Patent. In any case, the palace went on briefing spree once again with some nonsensical cover story of “Charles gave in to what the Sussexes wanted because he’s also evicting them from Frogmore.” It didn’t make any sense because the palace was clearly caught with their pants down, looking like they were too f–king racist to recognize the king’s mixed-race grandkids. Well, the Telegraph has a new story and at least this version makes a bit more sense?

Buckingham Palace offered to update the Sussex children’s titles online to make up for embarrassment over their eviction from Frogmore Cottage, friends have claimed. Prince Harry and Meghan made the decision to use Archie and Lilibet’s prince and princess titles last year and shared their decision with Buckingham Palace.

However, they were frustrated that the Royal family failed to immediately recognise Archie and Lilibet’s elevated status on its website following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, not least as the Prince and Princess of Wales’s titles, and those of their children, were swiftly changed.

There was no movement on the issue until a tabloid newspaper broke the news that the Sussexes had been asked to vacate their Windsor home. They had been asked to give up Frogmore Cottage in January but the news did not become public knowledge on March 1. The Sussexes only learnt then that the keys had been offered to the Duke of York. On the same day, the palace offered to update its website with Archie and Lilibet’s new titles, it is understood.

One friend of the couple raised an eyebrow about the timing of such communication, which was interpreted as an attempt to curry favour or to smooth relations amid the public humiliation. But palace aides are unlikely to have known that a week later on March 8, the couple planned to make a public statement about the christening or that they would use the opportunity to confirm the use of Lilibet’s new title.

In the event, the website was not updated until last Wednesday when the Duke and Duchess made a public announcement, initially via People magazine, that their daughter, “Princess Lilibet” had been christened in California. A royal source insisted that they had always planned to wait until the Sussexes chose to reveal the news themselves rather than make the announcement on their behalf. Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

[From The Telegraph]

I sort of believe that people were incorrectly conflating or connecting the Frogmore eviction with the title announcement – all signs point to Harry and Meghan just doing whatever they want on their own schedule at this point. I believe that they told the palace that their children would use their royal titles last year and the palace failed to update the line of succession list for months. Then Charles ordered the Frogmore Cottage eviction in January and the Sussexes didn’t release the news, the palace released the news to deflect from Charles’s political moves with the EU. Basically, this was always Buckingham Palace’s mess, and I absolutely believe that the palace waited until this month to “offer” the Sussexes an update on the titles. Now, all that being said, I believe that the Sussexes “invited” Charles to the christening too, so he had to know that the Sussexes would make an announcement about Princess Lili at some point.

Photos courtesy of Misan Harriman/The Sussexes, Netflix and Backgrid.