Royal experts believe that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s decision to name their daughter after the monarch’s nickname “breaches her privacy”

Sally Bedell Smith, Her Majesty’s biographer, claims the queen had “no choice” but to accept the baby’s name since she is “walking on eggshells” around the pair, according to OK.

While it was previously reported that Prince Harry asked his grandmother’s permission before naming his second child Lilibet, sources now claim that the request was not official or in keeping with tradition.

“In today’s tense climate, when everyone is walking on eggshells with Harry and Meghan, I can’t imagine that the Queen had any choice but to accept the name they presented to her,” Sally remarked.

“Even if she felt – as would be completely understandable – that it breaches her privacy with a suggestion of inappropriate intimacy.”

Only the Queen’s husband, Prince Philip, her parents, and a few close friends used the nickname.

“Asking the Queen’s permission for the name would be in line with royal tradition,” Sally explains.

“I know when the Duke and Duchess of York, later George VI and Queen Elizabeth, proposed to name their second daughter Ann Margaret, King George V and Queen Mary objected to ‘Ann’.

“This then led to the couple settling on Margaret Rose.”

According to the royal biographer, the name Elizabeth would have been more fitting.

She said: “Harry and Meghan could have paid the Queen a far more dignified tribute by calling their daughter her great-grandmother’s proper name, Elizabeth.

“They would have been even better off calling the baby Diana Elizabeth. Nobody could possibly have objected to that.

“In fact, paying tribute to the baby’s late grandmother that way would have been widely applauded.

“I would expect the choice has not gone down well in royal circles.

“It’s lucky Harry and Meghan have said at the outset they will call their daughter ‘Lili.’”

Angela Levin, a royal biographer, has similar sentiments on the issue. She called the moniker “distasteful” and a “terrible invasion” of the monarchy’s privacy. Ms Levin slammed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision as “terrible” and accused Harry of being “cunning” for picking the name.

She said: “I actually think it is a terrible invasion of the Queen’s privacy.

“This was a special name that her grandfather King George IV gave her when she was very small.

“She could not say Elizabeth… she used to say Lilibet.

“And then the Duke of Edinburgh picked this up and called it to her.”

Ms Levin added: “It was another way of saying darling.

“It is a very loving, emotional, intimate name.”

“And I think that his death was so few weeks ago that it is a very distasteful!”

“I absolutely think it is terrible!” Ms Levin raged, in a stinging rebuke.

“I think that Lili, which was in the next word and what she is actually going to be referred to is a delightful name.

“It is similar to Elizabeth but not encroaching on her privacy.”

Ms Levin then called Prince Harry’s decision to name his unborn baby after the Queen “cunning”

“I think she’s desperately unhappy (The Queen) because they were desperately rude about her,” the royal biographer continued. “I don’t think it’s a good idea, I think it’s quite rude to her Majesty the Queen.”

“It was a very private nickname from her husband who hasn’t been dead for very long.”