Daily Times

Harry and Meghan’s friend Omid Scobie has claimed King Charles, the Queen Consort and the Prince and Princess of Wales ‘declined’ an invitation to attend Lilibet’s christening in California last Friday.

The Sussexes snubbed a British baptism for their youngest daughter and held an Anglican ceremony at their Montecito mansion for between 20 and 30 friends – including her billionaire godfather Tyler Perry. But royal journalist Scobie, who is close to the Sussexes, says ‘King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Princess Kate were invited but didn’t attend’ the ceremony.

It is not known whether any other Royal Family members were present, nor when the British royals were asked to attend – or how any invite was sent to the UK. The Court Circular – Britain’s official record of royal engagements – shows none of the senior royals aside from Princess Anne attended events on the day of the christening last week. Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Sussexes included a reference to their 21-month-old as ‘Princess Lilibet Diana’ – revealing for the first time that the couple has decided to invoke their right to use ‘Princess’ for Lilibet, six months since the accession to the throne of King Charles last September. Archie will be called prince. Harry and Meghan are said to not want to deny their children the chance to inherit royal titles from their father – seeing it as their birthright – but will allow Archie and Lili the chance to decide whether to drop or keep using the royal titles when they are older. They are understood to have been in contact with Buckingham Palace about the issue.

It comes after Meghan famously told Oprah Winfrey that Archie was not given the title of prince because of his race, but this was disputed by the palace and constitutional experts. Lili was baptised by the Anglican Bishop of Los Angeles, John Taylor. Afterwards guests and family including Doria Ragland danced to a playlist containing songs from Harry and Meghan’s wedding reception at Windsor Castle. A gospel choir also reportedly performed Oh Happy Day and This Little Light of Mine. However, when Archie was born seventh in line to the throne to the then Queen in May 2019, he was too far down the line of succession. Rules dictate that although he was a great-grandchild of the monarch, he was not a first-born son of a future king, so was not automatically a prince.

An insider claimed that 21-month-old Lili’s title of princess and Archie’s title as a prince will be used in formal settings – but not in everyday conversational use by the couple. And the monarch will not stand in their way, Buckingham Palace has revealed, adding the Royal Family’s official website will now be updated to call the children Princess Lilibet and Prince Archie. It currently refers to Lilibet as ‘Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor’ and her brother as ‘Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor’.

Title rules set out by King George V in 1917 mean Archie and Lili, as the children of a son of a sovereign, automatically became a prince and a princess when Charles became King.

They would also be entitled to an HRH style, but although Harry and Meghan retain their HRH styles, they no longer use them after quitting the working monarchy. It was previously reported in 2021 that Charles, in a bid to limit the number of key royals, intended, when he became monarch, to prevent Archie becoming a prince. To do so, he would have to issue a Letters Patent amending Archie’s right to be a prince and Lili’s right to be a princess.

Harry, who stepped down as a senior working royal in 2020 for a new life in the US, criticised his father’s parenting in his controversial autobiography Spare, accused the Prince of Wales of physically attacking him and said the Queen Consort sacrificed him on her own personal PR altar. The use of the titles has been revealed just days after Harry and Meghan were asked to vacate their UK home Frogmore Cottage, a move sanctioned by the King which further weakens the couple’s ties with Harry’s home country and the Windsors. And the christening came just before The Duke and Duchess of Sussex confirmed they had been invited to the King’s Coronation – but refused to say whether they will be attending.

The Sussexes have yet to confirm whether they will attend the King’s coronation in May, which falls on Archie’s fourth birthday.

The Baptism happened as Charles’ wife Camilla was mourning the death of her brother-in-law of more than 50 years, Simon Elliot, who died last week aged 82. Harry received an email from the Palace about the coronation at Westminster Abbey on May 6, a spokesman for the Sussexes said, despite the stream of brickbats they have thrown at the Royal Family. Less that 24 hours after Lilibet’s christening, Harry hosted an online Q&A to promote his memoir Spare – and may have had christening guests staying in his mansion while it happened.

It comes after the prince launched yet another salvo, telling controversial physician Dr Gabor Mate that he was starved of hugs and attention during his ‘incredibly painful’ childhood. In an interview with Dr Mate to promote his memoir, Spare, that was streamed live – and cost viewers £19 a ticket – he also lamented his ‘broken-home upbringing’ and how he felt ‘different’ to the rest of his family. The Mail understands that Harry and Meghan’s former UK home, Frogmore Cottage in Windsor – which the King is said to have taken from them – will be available for them to stay in should they fly to England to attend. Lili, as she is called by her parents, was christened by the Bishop of Los Angeles, the Reverend John Taylor. He is the most senior member of the California Episcopal church, which is an Anglican domination with links to the Church of England. It is not believed that any other current members of the Royal Family have been baptised by the Episcopal Church. Meghan was a Catholic growing up – before being baptised and confirmed into the Church of England in 2018.

It is also understood Lilibet’s HRH will be ‘held in abeyance’, which describes a state of temporary disuse. Harry and Meghan are no longer HRH after Megxit because they quit as working royals.