Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, go away after a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on June 3, 2022.

Matt Dunham/AP

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Matt Dunham/AP

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, go away after a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on June 3, 2022.

Matt Dunham/AP

LONDON — Prince Harry and his spouse Meghan introduced Wednesday that their daughter had been christened in a personal ceremony in California, publicly calling her a princess and revealing for the primary time that they may use royal titles for his or her youngsters.

Princess Lilibet Diana, who turns two in June, was baptized on Friday by the Archbishop of Los Angeles, the Rev John Taylor, Harry and Meghan mentioned in a press release. Lilibet’s title and that of her brother, Archie, who will likely be 4 in May, will likely be up to date on the Buckingham Palace web site later.

The announcement marked the primary time that the youngsters’s titles had been utilized in public.

The query of the youngsters’s titles took middle stage two years in the past throughout Harry and Meghan’s television interview with Oprah Winfrey. Meghan, who’s biracial, mentioned that when she was pregnant with Archie “they” — presumably the palace — “were saying they didn’t want him to be a prince … which would be different from protocol.”

Meghan advised that this was as a result of Archie was the royal household’s “first member of color” and would have marked the primary time a royal grandchild wasn’t given the identical title as the opposite grandchildren.

At the time, royal consultants mentioned Meghan’s feedback seemed to be based mostly on a misunderstanding of the way in which royal titles are conferred.

Titles are conferred in step with a decree issued by King George V in 1917 that limits the titles of prince and princess to the male-line grandchildren of the sovereign.

As lengthy as the late Queen Elizabeth II was alive, Harry and his older brother, Prince William, had been the sovereign’s grandchildren. Harry and William’s youngsters, as nice grandchildren, did not obtain the titles robotically.

But Elizabeth had the ability to amend the foundations, and in 2012 she decreed that the youngsters of Prince William and his spouse, Catherine, could be princes and princesses. This decree did not apply to Harry and Meghan.

However, the state of affairs modified when King Charles III ascended the throne on the dying of his mom final September. William and Harry are the king’s sons, which means their offspring at the moment are royal grandchildren and so entitled to be referred to as prince and princess.

Nonetheless, they’ve remained a plain “master” and “miss” on the Buckingham Palace web site for the previous six months.