Duchess Meghan Says She Prefers the Last Name ‘Sussex’ Over ‘Markle’

In episode two of With Love, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex invited her good friend, actress Mindy Kaling, to help her set up for a kids’ birthday party. While they were preparing for the event, Markle corrected Kaling when she referred to the royal as “Meghan Markle.”

“It’s so funny you keep saying Markle,” the duchess said. “You know I’m Sussex now.”

The royal explained that she was inspired by her kids, Archie, 5, and Lilibet, 3, who also use “Sussex.” She added, “You have kids and you go, ‘No, I share my name with my children.’ I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me, but it just means so much to say, ‘This is our family name. Our little family name.’”

Markle further discussed her new surname in an interview with People magazine, adding, “It’s our shared name as a family, and I guess I hadn’t recognized how meaningful that would be to me until we had children. I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H and I all have together. It means a lot to me.”

If you’re wondering what happened to Prince Harry’s original last name “Mountbatten-Windsor” (which was also passed down to his kids), you’re not alone. It seems their legal surname is still “Mountbatten-Windsor,” but they use “Sussex” on a day-to-day basis. 

It’s important to note that royal titles have been used as unofficial last names in the past. For example, both Prince William and Prince Harry used “Wales” as their surname in school because their parents, King Charles and Princess Diana, were the Prince and Princess of Wales. And when Prince George started school, he was enrolled as “George Cambridge” because his parents, Prince William and Kate Middleton, were the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the time. 

The more you know. 

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