Prince Harry and Meghan Markle set to name baby girl after Prince Philip in special tribute

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are predicted to pay tribute to the late Duke of Edinburgh by naming their baby girl after him. 

• Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are predicted to honor Prince Philip by naming their daughter after him. 
• Meghan is set to welcome the second Sussex child into the world in the summer and the odds of the little girl being given a name inspired by the Duke of Edinburgh have been slashed. 
• This royal news comes after it was revealed that the pandemic has highlighted a rather bizarre royal family trait. 

Bookmakers have slashed the odds of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex opting to call their little girl a name inspired by Prince Harry’s grandfather, who died aged 99 earlier this year. 

It’s thought that Philippa, the female version of Philip, is a strong contender on Prince Harry and Meghan’s list of potential baby names, having already honored Prince Philip when they named their first born son, Archie.

Archie Harrison was given the surname Mountbatten-Windsor as a nod to Prince Philip and his royal roots. 

With odds of the couple opting for Philippa for their baby girl being slashed to 3/1, a Ladbrokes statement reads, “Royal punters are seemingly convinced Harry and Meghan will opt for a name with great significance for their daughter, and while the early money was on Diana, all interest over the past few weeks has been in Philippa.”

Of course, it’s strongly believed by royal fans that Harry will name his daughter after his mother, Princess Diana, in some way—the same as Prince William, who named his daughter Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. 

The odds of the late Princess of Wales’ moniker being incorporated into the Sussex daughter’s title are 5/1 and odds of Harry paying tribute to Her Majesty the Queen with Elizabeth are 10/1. 

Other royal names like Alice, after Prince Philip’s mother Princess Alice, and Victoria, after Queen Victoria, are also considered to be in the running for baby Sussex number two’s name. 

However, it’s also been suggested that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may choose to distance themselves from the royal family by opting for a name with no connection to Harry’s monarchy ties, amid tension between the couple and the royals. 

Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal life at the start of 2020, leaving their Frogmore Cottage home and regal duties for life in the US, moving to LA to become “financially independent”. 

Having swapped Windsor for California, Harry and Meghan shocked the world when they sat down with Oprah Winfrey for an explosive tell-all chat about life as a couple, inside and out of the royal family. 

During the interview, Harry said that his father, Prince Charles, and brother, Prince William, are “trapped” within the royal fold, revealing that Charles had stopped taking his phone calls when he moved across the pond. 

Harry also claimed that he and Meghan were forced to rely on his inheritance from Princess Diana when they began his new life with Meghan and their son Archie.

Meanwhile, Meghan opened up on the struggles she endured after stepping into the royal family spotlight, sharing that she had felt suicidal during the throws of pregnancy, saying she “didn’t want to be alive anymore”. 

The former actress recounted how she reached out to Buckingham Palace's HR department for help, but alleged that she was denied mental health support. 

Meghan also claimed that an unnamed member of the royal family had expressed “concern” about “how dark” Archie’s skin would be, before he was born and hinted that she felt the decision for him to not be made a prince may have been related to his race. 

“In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, we had the conversation of he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title and, also, concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born,” Meghan told Oprah.

“They were concerned that if he were too brown that that would be a problem?,” Oprah later asked.

“If that’s the assumption you’re making…that would be a safe one,” Meghan responded.