Meghan Markle doesn’t want to be known as Meghan Markle anymore.
She’s made it clear in an episode of her new cooking and lifestyle show on Netflix and again in interviews with Drew Barrymore and People magazine.
In episode two of “With Love, Meghan,” the former Suits actress is joined by The Office star Mindy Kaling, whom she is teaching how to host a children’s party. Meghan has two children with Prince Harry, Archie, 5, and Lilibet, 3. Kaling has three children, Katherine Swati, 7, Spencer Avu, 4, and Anne, who turned one last month.
“I don’t think anyone in the world knows that Meghan Markle has eaten Jack in the Box (an American fast food chain) and loves it,” Kaling says before she’s cut off by Meghan.
“It’s so funny, too, that you keep saying Meghan Markle, you know I’m Sussex now. You have kids and you go, no, I share my name with my children,” Meghan says.
“Yes,” Kaling says.
“And that feels so, I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me. But it just means so much to go, this is our family name,” Meghan says.
“Well, now I know. And I love it,” Kaling says.
Meghan’s new name also appears in an upcoming segment of The Drew Barrymore Show. “This is the Fast Five with Meghan Sussex,” Barrymore says in a preview clip from the show that airs Thursday.
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In an interview with People magazine, Meghan emphasized the importance of the Sussex name for her and Prince Harry — it “is part of our love story.”
“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,” she said. “I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H and I all have together. It means a lot to me.”
However, the children didn’t always use the last name Sussex. When they were born, they used the last name Mountbatten-Windsor, as some of the royals do, when a last name is required. Royals often go by their title and first name and Prince Harry doesn’t seem to have used Mountbatten-Windsor, which comes from his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II who is of the House of Windsor, and his grandfather, who was Philip Mountbatten before he became Prince Philip. Prince William did, when he filed a lawsuit in France against the magazine Closer.
Both Prince Harry and Prince William used the last name Wales when they served in the military, since their father was the Prince of Wales. Children in the royal family often use their parents’ titles as a last name until they have their own title. However, when Charles became King, Prince William became the Prince of Wales.
Prince Harry and Meghan received the titles the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from Queen Elizabeth II when they wed in 2018.
Since they were wed, Meghan Markle’s maiden name has most often been used to identify her in the media, just as Catherine, the Princess of Wales, who was previously known as the Duchess of Cambridge, is still often referred to as Kate Middleton.
Prince Harry and Meghan were allowed to keep their titles after they stepped down as royals in 2020 but they are no longer addressed as his or her royal highness (HRH). They were also told to stop developing their “SussexRoyal” brand and told not to market themselves as such or otherwise profit from their titles. However, there is nothing stopping them from using their titles as a last name, as other royals do.
The couple hasn’t emphasized the Sussex last name before, but Meghan has made it clear: They’re all Sussexes now.
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