Kyle Sandilands ‘almost had a coronary’ after learning Harry and Meghan named daughter Lilibet

Kyle Sandialnds has joined the growing list of celebrities who have openly criticised the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for naming their baby girl Lilibet (shortened to Lili) after her great-grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen. 

The Australian radio shock jock, who is a monarchist, said he was aghast when he heard the news, given that Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan Markle, 39, have spent weeks criticising the royal family.  

‘I heard Brooklyn (KIIS FM newsreader) mention this at 5.30 this morning on my way in, and I nearly had a coronary,’ the 49-year-old said on Monday’s Kyle And Jackie O Show.  

‘I was not happy, because they want to distance themselves so much from the royal family but every name [was inspired by royal family members],’ he raged.  

Lilibet – the Queen’s family nickname – was first used when Princess Elizabeth was just a toddler and unable to pronounce her own name properly. 

The moniker stuck, and was affectionately used by both her father grandfather King George V and husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. 

‘I nearly had a coronary’: Australian radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands, 49, (left) has voiced is disapproval after learning that ‘royal haters’ Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan Markle, 39, (both pictured right with baby Archie) named their newborn daughter Lilibet after the Queen

Lili’s middle name Diana honours Harry’s later mother Diana, Princess of Wales.   

‘And then along come the haters, who hate the royal family… and then they [name their daughter] Lilibet,” Sandilands said of Harry and Meghan. 

While Sandilands said he could understand why the Sussexes wanted to honour Diana with their daughter’s middle name, he simply couldn’t understand why the name Lilibet made the cut. 

‘I like the name [Lilibet] but I don’t want them using it’: Sandilands, who is a monarchist, said he was aghast when he heard the news, given that Harry and Meghan have spent weeks criticising the royal family 

‘I like the name [Lilibet] but I don’t want them using it,’ he declared, adding that he ‘instantly didn’t like it’. 

Sandilands’ comments come after former Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan voiced a similar opinion on the name during an interview with Nine’s Today show. 

Speaking to host Karl Stefanovic, said Harry and Meghan’s decision to use the Queen’s nickname for their new baby daughter is ‘ironic’ given the couple spent weeks ‘trashing the royal family and the monarchy’.

Criticism: Sandilands’ damning review comes after former Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan (right)  voiced a similar opinion on the Lilibet’s name during an interview with Nine’s Today show. Pictured left is Today host Allison Langdon, centre is co-host Karl Stefanovic  

‘It’s quite ironic, isn’t it? You have this couple who have been trashing the royal family and the monarchy for the last few weeks and they have named the baby after the Queen,’ Morgan said. 

Meghan, 39, and Harry, 36, plunged the Windsors into crisis with the televised interview in March, when they accused an unnamed royal of making a racist remark about their son Archie’s skin tone and claimed the royals failed to help the Duchess when she was suicidal. 

Last month, Harry also spoke out during a series with Winfrey on mental health for Apple TV+ and suggested his father, Prince Charles, had allowed his children to ‘suffer’ when it came to the media because of his own negative experience. 

Not a fan: ‘It’s quite ironic, isn’t it? You have this couple who have been trashing the royal family and the monarchy for the last few weeks and they have named the baby after the Queen,’ Morgan said on Monday’s show 

Morgan – a fierce critic of the couple – said he wondered if the decision to honour the Queen with their daughter’s name was Harry and Meghan’s way of mending fences.

‘Maybe it’s their way of reaching out, as the Americans say, to the royals and wanting some kind of end to this on-running feud,’ he said. 

Morgan then offered a few words of support to the couple – adding the birth of a child was not the right moment to put across a negative opinion.  

‘I always think when a new baby is born, I’ve had four myself it’s churlish to put any negative slant,’ he said. 

Sweet family nickname for Queen that inspired Harry and Meghan’s name for their baby daughter

Lilibet – the Queen’s family nickname – was first used when Princess Elizabeth was just a toddler and unable to pronounce her own name properly.

Her grandfather King George V would affectionately call her ‘Lilibet’, imitating her own attempts to say Elizabeth.

The sweet nickname stuck and she became Lilibet to her family from then on. 

The Duke of Edinburgh also referred to his wife as Lilibet, writing to his mother in law after their wedding: ‘Lilibet is the only ‘thing’ in the world which is absolutely real to me.’

Harry and Meghan’s new baby daughter – the Queen’s 11th great-grandchild – will be known as Lili. A variation on Lily, the flower is often seen to symbolise purity, commitment, rebirth and fertility.

Lili’s middle name Diana honours Harry’s later mother Diana, Princess of Wales. It is no surprise the couple chose to pay tribute to Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997 when Harry was just 12.

 

Lili has been born almost a month before the princess would have celebrated her 60th birthday on July 1. Her cousin Princess Charlotte also has Diana as one of her middle names, as well as Elizabeth. She is Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.

Harry and the Duke of Cambridge are due to unveil a statue of their mother at Kensington Palace on her birthday, but the arrangements have yet to be confirmed, amid a long-reported rift between the brothers.

The Sussexes’ tribute to the Queen is likely to be seen as an olive branch to the monarch and the rest of the family.

Pictured: Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in California where Lilibet was born. The hospital is a private facility where births cost up to $37,000. 

Harry and Meghan plunged the Windsors into crisis with their Oprah Winfrey interview in March when they accused an unnamed royal of making a racist remark about their son Archie’s skin tone before he was born.

They also said the institution failed to help Meghan when she was suicidal. But during the televised interview with Winfrey, the Sussexes lauded the Queen.

Harry spoke of his respect for his grandmother, while Meghan said: ‘The Queen… has always been wonderful to me.’ 

‘At such a moment. I wish them all the very best. There is four in the family now. I wish them every success and a long and happy life.’ 

On Sunday night, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced: ‘On June 4, we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter, Lili.

‘She is more than we could have ever imagined, and we remain grateful for the love and prayers we’ve felt from across the globe. Thank you for your continued kindness and support during this very special time for our family.’

Lili – who is eighth in line to the throne – was born in Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in California, a private facility where births cost up to $37,000. 

Official: On Sunday night, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced: ‘On June 4, we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter, Lili. Pictured: Harry and Meghan in February