Harry’s Friend Claims The Prince Considered Changing His Name to Cut Royal Ties: 'Such a Step...'

Prince Harry's relationship with the royal family remains in tatters, given his many damaging remarks against them. Despite his recent plea for reconciliation, the Duke of Sussex has reportedly grown tired of being cold-shouldered by his estranged family. According to Harry’s friend, the Duke is planning to adopt Princess Diana’s maiden name, Spencer, instead of Mountbatten-Windsor, in a bold move to distance himself from his royal roots.

Harry allegedly approached his late mother’s brother, Earl Spencer, for advice during a visit to the UK. A friend of his told the Daily Mail, “They had a very amicable conversation and Spencer advised him against taking such a step.” The outlet reports that such a move could face significant legal hurdles, as his two children currently use the Mountbatten-Windsor surname. Mountbatten-Windsor is the surname available to descendants of the late Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip. It combines the royal family's traditional name, Windsor, and the Duke of Edinburgh's surname.

The shocking allegations follow a claim made by Tom Bower, who believed that Meghan Markle “decided her real object in life was to be Diana.” Royal expert Charlotte Griffiths echoed Bower’s theory, telling GB News, “I can't think of another reason why you'd want to suddenly become a Spencer. It's quite a serious title, Mountbatten-Windsor. It makes you very closely associated with the royal family.” She also believed that Harry’s alleged surname change would "really hurt his father’s feelings." The Daily Mail reports that King Charles deeply cherishes the Mountbatten name just as his father did. The late Prince Philip adopted the Mountbatten name when he became a British citizen and renounced his Greek and Danish royal titles in 1947, after marrying the late Queen.

Griffiths, however, has another interesting theory for Harry’s alleged ‘shock move’ to take up his mother’s maiden name. She asserted that Markle and Harry are eying the Spencer name for a ‘commercial rebrand,’ as the Duchess continues to push her businesses to the forefront. She spilled, “The whole thing is a bit bizarre. It could be something to do with marketing, because they're not allowed to market the royal name.” The expert added, “They tried to set up a website called Sussex Royal, and they were told no way, you can't be putting royal names on jams, so I just wonder whether they were trying to angle for a Spencer brand or something.”

Speaking of how the surname change would impact the Sussexes' children, Griffiths highlighted how Princess Lilibet's name would become ‘Lilibet Diana Spencer’, further fueling Bower's theory of Markle’s obsession with the late Diana. She explained, “So if her surname were Spencer, it would become Lilibet Diana Spencer. So one wonders whether she quite wanted her daughter to be sort of known as Diana Spencer, the new Princess of Wales.” Markle and Harry currently hold the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex, granted to them by the late Queen Elizabeth on the day of their 2018 wedding.