Queen Breaks Silence on Harry and Meghan’s Mistruths About Royal Family

In a significant departure from her long-standing policy of never-complaining and never-explaining, the Queen has instructed courtiers to correct any statements that misrepresent her private conversations or those of other senior royals.

The move comes after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex allowed mistruths about the Royal Family to circulate in the public domain.

The Queen's exasperation at the relentless briefings that allies of the couple have been giving to the media was made evident when the couple named their daughter Lilibet, a deeply personal childhood nickname of the Queen that was used by very close relatives, including her late husband Prince Philip.

The US-based journalists favoured by supporters of Harry and Meghan reported that the couple had asked permission to use the name.

However, a royal insider described the conversation between Harry and his grandmother as a telling, not an asking, confirming a BBC report last week which said the Sussexes had not asked the Queen if she had any objection to their choice of name.

Harry and Meghan reacted furiously, instructing their lawyers to contest the BBC story, which they described as ”false and defamatory”.

Sources say the Queen's more robust response to the tsunami of media briefings from allies of the Sussexes will go beyond the Lilibet story.

”This is about whether or not what is being reported is an accurate version of what actually happened,” said the insider.

The 95-year-old monarch put aside the controversy yesterday as she smiled and even tapped her feet to the music during Trooping the Colour, her annual birthday parade.

Harry and Meghan, who are now based in California, announced the arrival of their daughter last Sunday, prompting warm messages of congratulations from the Queen, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

However, the mood began to sour with an article in the New York Post which said it had been ”told” by unnamed sources that ”Harry called the Queen for permission to name his daughter Lilibet”.

The story was soon picked up by other media outlets, infuriating the palace to the extent that a high-ranking, but unnamed, palace source did not dispute claims by a BBC reporter that no such permission had been sought.

The impact was immediate and incendiary.

The BBC story ”effectively” killed ”the New York Post's account and led, within hours, to the letter from Harry and Meghan's lawyers.

A spokesman for the couple said ”the Duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement.

In fact, his grandmother was the first family member he called.

During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming Lilibet in her honour.

Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name.”

However, there was further irritation at the palace when friends of Harry and Meghan suggested to US journalists that the Queen had been introduced to Lilibet over a video call.

The insider last night denied that, stating, ”No video call has taken place,” adding, ”Friends of the Sussexes appear to have given misleading briefings to journalists about what the Queen had said and that took the whole thing over the edge.

The palace couldn't deny the story that this was a mistruth.”

Ironically, Harry has spoken out against the ”barrage of mistruths” on social media.

While the palace has largely sought to mollify Harry and Meghan, even amid the grenades thrown during their interview with Oprah Winfrey in March and Harry's subsequent TV series on mental health, the Queen and other senior royals have shown there is a limit to their patience.

After Harry and Meghan claimed there was racism in the royal household, William Snapped were very much not a racist family.

And Buckingham Palace, which is investigating the claims, pointedly said, ”Recollections may vary.”

In conclusion, the Queen's decision to correct any misrepresentations of her private conversations or those of other senior royals shows her frustration with the relentless briefings from allies of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.