Meghan Markle and Prince Harry welcomed their first child, a boy, on May 6, sharing two days later that his name is Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
There are multiple theories as to why the royal couple chose to name their son Archie, one of which is that the infant was named after Major Tom Archer-Burton, who was Harry’s former commanding officer in the Army.
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The Sun reports that Archer-Burton, who is known as Archie, was reportedly instrumental in getting Harry sent to Afghanistan, “which was always Harry’s dream.” The royal reportedly credits Archer-Burton “with saving his military career and helping him serve his country” and decided to name his son after the officer to honor him.
“It’s well known in Army circles, and Archie’s inner circle, that baby Archie is a nod to him,” a source said. “The two men have stayed in regular contact, and Archie has met most of Harry’s family including Meghan.”
“It’s an incredible honour but Archie is an incredibly modest chap, and won’t be making a big deal of it,” the source added.
Archer-Burton and Harry are reportedly extremely close, and the officer attended Harry’s wedding to Markle in May 2018. Their bond was reportedly cemented when Harry was told he would not be able to serve in Iraq during his time in the Army, with Archer-Burton instrumental in keeping the prince from leaving the service. Archer-Burton reportedly convinced officials to allow Harry to be deployed, and arranged to deal to keep that deployment out of the media.
In addition to his work in the Army, Archer-Burton has cycled through Africa to raise money for charity and rebuilt a school for disabled children in Lesotho with Harry. He also attended Prince William and Kate Middleton‘s wedding in 2011.
Another rumor posits that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were influenced by a young boy they met during their royal tour of the Commonwealth last fall. The pair visited New Zealand when they met a boy named Archie Somerville-Ryan, who spoke with Harry during a walkabout.
“Harry asked me and my sisters, ‘What’s your name?’ and then we answered back, ‘Scarlet, Beth, and Archie,’” Archie recalled to Channel 5 News. “And then he said, ‘Archie, I like that name.’”
Harry then called his wife over to meet the siblings, according to Somerville-Ryan.
“And he said, ‘Oh, come on, Meghan, these guys want to give you some roses,’ because we had roses from our garden,” Somerville-Ryan said. “He introduced our names to Meghan and they kind of, nodded, sort of, when they said our names.”
A third rumor is that Harry and Markle named their child after a cat Markle had as a child, which she and her mom, Doria Ragland, had reportedly named after the titular character from Archie Comics, according to the Daily Mail.
Photo Credit: Getty / WPA Pool
