Meghan Markle confided in the family member of an Invictus Games competitor last week that she and husband Prince Harry struggled to decide on a name for their firstborn child.
Meghan met with Mandy McBain, the wife of games competitor Sherry McBain, and their young son Harrison at a children's event, prompting a discussion about baby names.
Meghan was in the Netherlands with Harry over the weekend for the first days of the Invictus Games. On the way to The Hague the couple made a private visit to Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, which was confirmed by a spokesperson after the fact. The visit marked the first time that Meghan had publicly visited the U.K since stepping down as a full-time working member of the royal family and the transmission of her March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
As part of the events surrounding the games, of which Harry is a founding patron, a book reading was held for children in attendance. Team GB competitor James Stride took part in the event reading from the book Hairy Maclary. Meghan is also reported to have taken her turn in reading to the group.
It was during this program, according to The Press Association, that the duchess met with members of the families of games competitors, including their children. One child among the many was four-year-old Harrison, son of RAF nursing officer and Invictus Games competitor Sherry McBain and her wife, Mandy.
"She was like 'Harrison, that's Archie's middle name,'" Sherry McBain told the PA of Meghan, "and Mandy was like 'Yeah, I know'."
"They were just having a chat because Harry and Meghan couldn't decide between Archie and Harrison for the first name."
The royal couple's first child was born in May 2019 and named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. Harrison as a name traces its origins back to the attribution "son of Harry".
According to Britain's Office for National Statistics, Archie rose ten places in names for babies born in 2019, becoming one of the most popular of the year.
The couple's final decision to give their son a meaningful middle name was replicated for their daughter who was born in June 2021 and named Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. The middle name is a tribute to Harry's mother, Princess Diana who died tragically at the age of 36 in a Paris car crash. The first name of Lilibet was chosen as it is the familial nickname of the Queen.
Following the event, Sherry McBain told PA that Harrison, was "over the moon that a princess has read him a story," continuing that the whole event "went down really well with all the UK children."
"Harrison was drawing pictures and telling her that it was a picture of a tram," the competitor said of her wife's meeting with Meghan, "I don't think it quite looked like a tram, so she was very gracious and said that's a brilliant tram, so he was delighted."
The Sussexes did not take their children, Archie, 2, and Lilibet, 10 months, with them to the Netherlands, with Meghan telling Stride during the reading event that she was "missing" them back home, according to the Daily Mail.
The 2022 Invictus Games is the event's fifth outing following its founding in 2014. The games have marked significant milestones in the Sussexes relationship as the 2017 events in Toronto were the first official public outing of Harry and Meghan as an official couple.
The 2022 games had been due to take place in 2020 but owing to lockdowns and restrictions in place due to the coronavirus pandemic they were delayed. At the opening ceremony on Saturday Meghan gave a touching speech introducing her husband saying "He's the founder of the Invictus Games, and the father to our two little ones, Archie and Lili. Please welcome my incredible husband, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex."
Harry used his speech to draw attention to the competitors from Ukraine who had been granted special permission by President Volodymyr Zelensky to compete at a time when the country is still at war with Russia. Harry and Meghan have both been vocal supporters of Ukraine, becoming the first members of the British royal family to speak out at the beginning of the crisis via their Archewell foundation.
Harry also used his speech to make a touching reference to his son. Speaking of the courage and resilience of the competitors—among whom are injured, ill or wounded armed forces veterans—the prince said: "When I talk to my son Archie about what he wants to be when he grows up, some days it's an astronaut, other days it's a pilot—a helicopter pilot obviously.
"But what I remind him is that no matter what you want to be when you grow up, it's your character that matters most, and nothing would make his mum and me prouder than to see him have the character of what we see before us today."
The 2022 Invictus Games close on April 22 and the 2023 event will be hosted in Düsseldorf, Germany.
