Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are now officially parents of two after welcoming their daughter on June 4. In confirming the birth, the proud parents ensured that their daughter’s name was packed with meaning when they gifted her the moniker Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. The name is a nod to Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana, who would be “thrilled” with her granddaughter’s name, her former voice coach Stewart Pearce exclusively told PopCulture.
Pearce, whose new book Diana: The Voice of Change: Revelations About Diana’s Life Principles is set to release on June 15, said that “Diana was the personification of love, the exemplar of unconditional love, and in deep respect of Queen Elizabeth (whom she called ‘Mama’) she would have been so excited by the birth of the babe and her beautiful names.” He noted that “Diana was so Diana in the sense of the independent, forthright aspect of her namesake,” the Goddess Diana, and “would have been thrilled at the idea of the legacy inherent in her name, which inevitably will inform the character of the young child.” Pearce added that little Lili’s name showcases “the immense love” Harry has for his late mother.
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With Lili’s birth, Diana would have been a grandmother to five, including Lili’s big brother Archie, as well as Prince William and Kate Middleton’s three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. While her grandchildren will never have the opportunity to meet her in person, Harry has revealed the sweet ways he ensures his mother has a presence in his children’s lives. He recently revealed that he and Markle have a picture of Diana in their son’s nursery, and one of Archie’s first words was even “grandma.” According to Pearce, Diana “would have loved being a grandmother.”
“If she were alive, she would have loved being a Grandmother, both in providing a vast and protective love for the little ones and by showing them how they could potentially navigate the complex waterways of protocol concerning service, public duty, and private personal boundaries – all considerations that she personally had to discover for herself when entering the Royal Household in 1981,” he said.
On Friday, June 4, Lilibet was born at 11:40 a.m. local time at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California. Now eighth in line to the throne, she became the Queen’s 11th great-grandchild and Diana’s fifth grandchild. Her birth came just a month ahead of what would have been Diana’s 60th birthday.
