The daughter of Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Lilibet, is still missing from the Royal Family’s line of succession in their official website, seven weeks after her birth in June.
Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor was born on June 4 in the US, and doesn’t have a royal title, but is eighth in line to the throne.
Lilibet Diana was born at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, near the couple’s mansion in California. She is the eleventh great-grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II.
Despite this, the Royal Family’s website which includes information to keep fans up to date with the House of Windsor still lists Prince Andrew as eighth in line and has not yet updated the line of succession to reflect Lilibet’s birth.
As the daughter of the Duke of Sussex, she slots into the list immediately after her brother Archie and one before Prince Andrew.
Prince Harry and Meghan named Lilibet after the Queen’s childhood nickname, she will be known as Lili. While her middle name Diana was in tribute to Harry’s late mother Princess Diana, Princess of Wales.
Lilibet’s brother Archie is listed at position seven, along with all of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s children, George (third), Charlotte (fourth), and Louis (fifth).
Zara and Mike Tindall’s son Lucas, who is 22nd in line to the throne, has been listed on the website since his birth in March.
When Prince Louis, the second son of Prince William and Kate Middleton was born in 2018, the website was updated 12 days after his arrival but this has still to be done for Lilibet.
Princess Eugenie’s son August Brooksbank and 11th in line to the throne was placed in the line of succession, 61 days after he was born in February.
Lilibet should be listed at eighth under her brother Archie whose name was added to the list just 15 days after he was born in 2019.
It comes after Harry and Meghan’s explosive two-hour CBS interview with Oprah Winfrey which aired in March. In the interview, the couple expressed discontent at the fact that Archie would not be made a prince.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also said racism drove them out of Britain and claimed their son Archie was denied the title of prince because he is of mixed race.
ITV’s royal team has questioned why Lilibet Diana has not been added to the line of succession page on the Royal Family website.
“You have got to ask what has taken them so long,” Chris Ship, ITV Royal Editor, told Royal Rota podcast. “All they have got to do is hit the paragraph button and put in a different number.”
“They must have done it before, “Ship continued. “They did it for Archie. Clearly, they did it for Louis when he was born. And they have done it for some of the other children like August that have been born as well.”
“So where’s Lilibet?” Ship said. “I can forgive them a week or two but a month? Is this them being a little bit petulant?”
“Is it them saying, “We will get around to it when ready?” It does feel like to me, maybe, they are making a point.”
A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said the Royal Family website is “updated periodically”. It is also believed that Prince Charles wants a “slimmed-down” monarchy when he takes the crown.
Lilibet is yet to be christened, amid claims that Prince Harry and Meghan would like their daughter to be christened in St. George’s Chapel in Windsor, with the Queen present.
“Harry told several people that they want to have Lili christened at Windsor, just like her brother Archie,” a source previously told the Daily Mail. “They are happy to wait until circumstances allow.”
But insiders have claimed that the dispute over Prince Harry and Meghan failing to ask the Queen’s permission for Lilibet’s name, as well as Harry’s surprise announcement of a memoir in the progress, may have lower their chances of a Windsor christening.
The memoir is yet another money-spinning venture Prince Harry has accepted since leaving the royal family and relocating to California. The book is said to ignite a “tsunami of fear” in royal circles.
“A christening should be a lovely, happy event with people pleased to see each other,” Penny Junor, Prince Harry’s biographer said. “If the relationship is as frosty as it is for the foreseeable future then I can’t see it being that type of affair.”
But some believe that Meghan could hold the christening in the US and use Bishop Michael Curry, who gave a sermon at their wedding.
However, Meghan has not returned to Britain since March last year and recent reports say that the last of Prince Harry’s possessions were removed from their former home, Frogmore Cottage, Windsor and put in storage.
Traditionally, royals are baptized within four months of birth.
“It is not a totally clear area of canon law,” a senior Anglican church figure told The Sun. “The requirements for acceding to the throne do not include baptism, but it would be normal to be baptized. No problems arise from Lilibet being American.”
Daniela Elser, a royal expert said that Lilibet’s absence on the list could start a new “Sussex-related firestorm” within the royal family in her latest column on New Zealand Herald.
She also argued that Lilibet’s sibling and cousins positions had been added quicker. Elser then doubted if it was an IT oversight or a “calculated snub”.
“Perhaps the bigger question is, does it matter?” Elser said. “The fact that the Palace has failed to include Lili so far and for weeks on end after her birth carries with it quite the sting.”