Years of speculation about the distance between the Dukes of Sussex and the British Royal Family, the news is confirmed. The Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, has publicly admitted that she does not know her niece Lilibet, the youngest daughter of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who celebrated her fourth birthday last Wednesday, June 4.
Lilibet was born in 2021 at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in California, and has since lived in the exclusive community of Montecito with her parents and older brother, Archie, who was born in the United Kingdom two years earlier. Despite her royal lineage, the little girl has never set foot on British soil or had direct contact with members of the Royal Family, according to The Mirror newspaper.
She does not know nor has plans to meet her niece
Journalist Danielle Stacey points out that in these four years there has been no family meeting between Lilibet and Prince Harry’s family. Kate Middleton’s words about her niece confirm this. “I can’t wait to meet her, because we haven’t met her yet, so I hope it will be soon,” the Princess of Wales is said to have declared, according to the British media.
The most striking fact was Kate’s response to the question of whether she had at least seen Lilibet by video call. Prince William’s wife was clear: “No, I haven’t, no. I wish her all the best.”
Lilibet’s name has a special meaning within the history of the Windsor family. It was the childhood nickname of Queen Elizabeth II, the little girl’s great-grandmother. However, not even that nod seems to have been enough to build bridges between the family.
This confession by Kate Middleton highlights the distance between the Sussexes and the rest of the Royal Family, a gap that has widened since Harry and Meghan decided to renounce their royal duties and move to the United States in 2020.