Queen Elizabeth Threw Her Newspaper In Anger After Reading About Princess Lilibet, Says Author

Queen Elizabeth II visits Cambridge University to attend the Quincentenary celebrations; (Inset) A young Princess Lilibet smiles at the camera. Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Tim Graham Picture Library; (Inset) Duke and Duchess of Sussex

Nov. 13 2025, Published 09:27 AM. ET

Queen Elizabeth was known for her steadiness, a monarch who rarely let her irritation slip publicly. So on the rare occasions she did lose her composure, those around her remembered it. And one of those moments, according to new claims, came not during a crisis of state but during what should have been a joyful family milestone: the birth of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s second child, Princess Lilibet. Instead of celebration, the atmosphere reportedly turned tense.

Queen Elizabeth II during a tour of the newly opened Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute at Cambridge University. (Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Tim Graham Picture Library) — Queen Elizabeth II during a tour of the newly opened Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute at Cambridge University. (Image Source: Getty Images | Tim Graham Picture Library)

A new account suggests the Queen wasn’t merely unsettled but genuinely furious when she discovered the baby would be named Lilibet, the deeply personal nickname used only by those closest to her throughout her life. According to Robert Jobson in his book, The Windsor Legacy: A Royal Dynasty of Secrets, Scandal and Survival, the late monarch didn’t hear it from her grandson, or even from Palace staff, but from the morning papers, and her reaction was far from mild. As per excerpts serialized by the Daily Mail, Jobson writes that although the Sussexes have long insisted the late Queen gave her blessing for the name, “a Palace source has a different version of events.”

In his version of the telling, the monarch woke up, read the announcement in the press like everyone else, and was so offended that she dropped the newspaper to the floor, startling her aides. According to the source, it was uncharacteristically dramatic.

Queen Elizabeth II views the horses in the parade ring before the Diamond Jubilee Coronation Cup race on Derby Day. (Image Source: Getty Images | Ben Stansall - WPA Pool)

After Lilibet’s birth, Harry and Markle were quick to insist that they had informed the Queen beforehand, who had warmly supported the choice. But this wasn’t the first time the question of 'permission' set off debate. When the name was first announced in 2021, a Palace figure quietly suggested to the BBC that Harry had not asked his grandmother before using her personal nickname. That alone fuelled days of speculation, but the story continued to splinter as more voices weighed in. Royal author Robert Hardman later wrote in Charles III: New King, New Court, The Inside Story that a staff member had recalled the monarch being “as angry as they’d ever seen her” upon discovering the name.

Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Max Mumby/Indigo — Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, watch a flypast to mark the centenary of the Royal Air Force. (Image Source: Getty Images | Max Mumby/Indigo)

Sources close to Harry and Markle, however, have repeatedly dismissed these claims. In 2024, one said, “Meghan and Harry 100 percent got permission from the queen to use the name Lilibet.” Their position has never wavered, that the Queen approved it and the Sussexes acted in good faith. Naming their daughter after the monarch, and giving her the middle name 'Diana,' was, according to the Sussexes’ statement at the time, meant to honor two of the most defining women in Harry’s life.

Later, after the rumour mill did not stop, the couple's lawyers wrote to the media, and their statement added that naming their daughter Lilibet was meant as a gesture of honor, not provocation: “Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name.”