The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, have announced the birth of their daughter, Lilibet 'Lili' Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. According to Variety, Lili was born on Friday, June 4 at 11:40 am at the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California. At the time of birth, representatives for the couple told Lili weighed 7 lbs 11 oz., and that both mother and child are in healthy condition, settling in at home.
Lili has been named after her great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, whose family nickname is Lilibet. Lili's middle name, Diana, is in honour of her late grandmother, the Princess of Wales.
As per Variety representative for the couple wrote in a statement, "The Duke and Duchess thank you for your warm wishes and prayers as they enjoy this special time as a family."
Harry and American actor Meghan Markle married at Windsor Castle in May 2018. Meghan and Harry officially stepped down from their roles as senior royals last year. Since last summer, they have been living with Archie in their new home in Southern California. Lili joins older brother Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, who was born in 2019.
Meghan shared the devastation that she and Prince Harry felt after she lost a baby in July and was admitted to hospital. Writing in the New York Times, she described the moment, as she was changing the couple’s son Archie’s nappy at their home in Los Angeles, that she “dropped to the floor” in pain.
“I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child that I was losing my second,” she wrote. “Hours later, I lay in a hospital bed, holding my husband’s hand. I felt the clamminess of his palm and kissed his knuckles, wet from both our tears. Staring at the cold white walls, my eyes glazed over. I tried to imagine how we’d heal,” she said.
-with ANI inputs