Meghan Markle: Royal expert claims she copyrighted name Lilibet, where is the wild allegation coming from?

Princess Lilibet of Sussex is the second child of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. She was born 4 June 2021 in California. At the time of her birth, her parents chose to use two names with royal history: Lilibet, in reference to Queen Elizabeth, and Diana, for Prince Harry’s mother.

In 2021, the reporting around the announcement of the name of the little Princess already caused some debate. Some claimed that they had taken the Queen by surprise, while others said that Her Majesty had been complimented by the gesture.

Now, over two years later, a royal book written by Daily Mail’s columnist Robert Hardman is bringing back the controversy by claiming that the Sussexes angered the Queen by naming their child after her. On 16 January GB News’ royal expert, Angela Levin took these claims to another level.

Angela Levin’s wild claims against Meghan Markle

While talking to Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster on 16 January Angela Levin addressed Hardman’s claims concerning Princess Lilibet’s name. As a reminder the book suggests that the late Queen Elizabeth was left ‘as angry as I'd ever seen her’.

Responding to Hardman’s claims, Levin said:

That's an incredibly sad comment, I think one of the reasons she felt that way was because it was discovered that Meghan, even before Lilibet was born, had taken out the names officially so that she could use them to buy things and to identify them.

Eamonn Holmes then asked her:

What do you mean? They'd copyrighted the name?

To that direct question Levin answered:

Yes. Before she had Lilibet (...)

That answer has been relayed in every tabloid in the UK since then.

Could Meghan Markle really copyright the name Lilibet?

Seeing as Levin’s claim is now being shared by other publications we were curious as to how it came about. Indeed, the articles broadcasting Levin’s words don’t refer to other sources that could verify this accusation.

Our own research has shown nothing that supports Levin’s statement. According to the UK Copyright Service ‘copyright does not protect individual names, titles or phrases.’ They explain that:

Such items may easily be duplicated by coincidence, and are therefore not considered unique or substantial enough to be awarded copyright protection in their own right

In addition, the government’s website clearly stated that copyright ‘protects your work and stops others from using it without your permission.’ It therefore doesn’t apply to names.

Moreover, after looking into trademarks and using the government’s website, there is nothing that indicates that the Sussexes had trademarked ‘Lilibet’. What we did find were trademarks (registered, withdrawn and refused) with names and addresses that aren’t linked to the Sussexes.

Angela Levin and Meghan Markle

This isn’t the first time Angela Levin chooses to attack the Sussexes and more specifically the Duchess. Just this year, she has, while on GB News, already chosen to comment on how Markle supposedly treats Prince Harry.

Responding to the rumours suggesting Markle’s mother could move in with the couple, Levin said on 12 January:

He has no power. You don't feel that he's making decisions. The decisions come from Meghan.

She writes his speeches, she tells him what to do. Pushing him here and there, moving him to different places like you might do with a child.

The same day she continued to paint Meghan Markle and her mother in a very bad light by suggesting that Prince Harry had ‘been outnumbered since he met Meghan and her mother’.

The list is very long when it comes to Levin’s comments on Meghan Markle as she has made them on GB News, Talk TV and even on X.

Read more:

⋙ Prince Harry and Meghan villainized once again by former royal staff in bombshell claim

⋙ Were Prince Harry and Meghan telling the truth? Fresh revelations could link Megxit to Prince William

⋙ Prince Harry and Meghan dealing with unending rumours of divorce, here's the truth

Sources:

GB News: Meghan Markle 'copyrighted' Lilibet name BEFORE birth of daughter: 'Appalling!'

UK Copyright Service

Intellectual Property Office - Search for a trademark

gov.uk - How copyright protects your work

GB News: Meghan Markle ‘treats Harry like a child’ claims Angela Levin

GB News: Prince Harry has ‘no power’ after latest Meghan move - ‘lost his own spirit’ claims Levin