Prince Harry had reportedly asked his uncle and Princess Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, about changing his family name — signaling that the royal rift is far from over.
The Duke of Sussex sought out his uncle’s counsel about taking his late mother’s last name during a recent trip to the UK, the Daily Mail reports.
Had he taken his mother’s surname, the Invictus Games founder would have had to relinquish the Mountbatten-Windsor family name — one that his children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, once shared.
Harry, 40, was discouraged from pursuing the change by his 61-year-old uncle, who reportedly warned that the legal process would be overly complex.
“They had a very amicable conversation and Spencer advised him against taking such a step,” a friend of the “Spare” author alleged to the outlet.
The Post has reached out to reps for Harry and Earl Spencer for comment.
Unsurprisingly, the move likely would not have been well received by King Charles and Prince William, both of whom have long taken pride in the Mountbatten-Windsor name.
As it stands, members of the monarchy who are descendants of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip are able to take up the Mountbatten-Windsor last name.
The family name combines the Windsor name with Philip’s adopted surname of Mountbatten.
On their birth certificates, the children of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are listed as Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor and Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.
While Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s children were previously known by the Mountbatten-Windsor surname, it emerged last year that the family had formally chosen “Sussex” as their official last name.
This was further confirmed by Meghan Markle earlier this year, who revealed that she also goes by Meghan Sussex now.
In Netflix’s “With Love, Meghan,” she was quick to correct actress Mindy Kaling about her last name.
“It’s so funny that you keep saying ‘Meghan Markle.’ You know I’m Sussex now,” Markle told the “Mindy Project” star, 45.
“You have kids and you go, ‘No, I share my name with my children,’” said the duchess, who has only visited the county of Sussex in England once.
“I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me but it just means so much to go ‘This is our family name. Our little family name.’”
After the episode aired, she was then called “Meghan Sussex” during her interview on “The Drew Barrymore Show.”