The Duchess of Sussex's spokesperson said the report 'would be laughable were it not offensive.'
A spokesperson for Meghan Markle is hitting back at a tabloid report about her son Archie's birth certificate. Reports surfaced over the weekend that Meghan had changed her name on the document to remove "Rachel Meghan," leaving just "Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Sussex."
The change was actually made on June 5, 2019, about a month after Meghan welcomed Archie with Prince Harry on May 6 of that year. "Prince" was also added to Harry's name, to complete his title of "His Royal Highness Prince Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex." However, one report called Meghan's change a "snub" to Kate Middleton, who used her name on the birth certificates of her children.
In a statement to ET, a spokesperson for Meghan slammed the report.
"The change of name on public documents in 2019 was dictated by The Palace, as confirmed by documents from senior Palace officials," the statement read. "This was not requested by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex nor by The Duke of Sussex."
"To see this U.K. 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," the statement continued. "There’s a lot going on in the world; let’s focus on that rather than creating clickbait."
As for a report that Meghan won't be traveling to London with Prince Harry to visit family over the summer, a source tells ET it's all speculation. Prince Harry and Meghan have not finalized any firm travel plans for this summer.
Meghan and Harry officially departed their roles as senior members of the royal family last year, amid rumors of a rift between Harry and his brother, Prince William. Though Meghan and Harry left the U.K. to set down roots in California, royal expert Katie Nicholl told ET that Harry and William's relationship has improved.
"Things are a lot better between William and Harry. If you go back a year at that stage, these brothers were barely on talking terms," she recalled. "When William went to the Sandringham Summit, he was so angry with his brother. He couldn't even face going to that lunch with the Queen. He only went for the meetings, such was his frustration and feeling of disappointment about what his brother had done and how Harry was handling the situation."
Now, "the relationship is much better than it was," Nicholl said.
"For a start, they are on talking terms, and not only on talking terms, they do speak relatively regularly. They were very much in touch over the holidays," she explained. "But there is an ocean between them, there is a time difference and as Harry [has] said… they are two brothers on different paths."
See more in the video below.
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