Meghan Markle has confirmed that she has changed her name after correcting Mindy Kaling during a new episode of her Netflix show.
The former actress, 43, has been filming her new lifestyle show, With Love, Meghan, and the second episode features her longtime friend, Mindy, 45.
During their appearance, Meghan ended up correcting the Office star after she got her name wrong, revealing that she no longer goes by Meghan Markle.
In one scene from the show, the pair are reminiscing about Meghan’s days as an actress while talking about children’s parties and their own childhoods.
Mindy then joked: “People wouldn’t believe that Meghan Markle ate at Jack in the Box,” which spurred Meghan to correct her.
She told her friend: “It’s so funny, too, that you keep saying ‘Meghan Markle’. You know I’m Sussex now.”
Meghan married Prince Harry, 40, in May 2018, and the pair have two children together – five-year-old Archie and three-year-old Lilibet.
She and Harry were gifted the titles of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex by the late Queen Elizabeth II on their wedding day and their kids – born Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor and Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, were made Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex, after the death of Queen Elizabeth.
Royal rules state that following the ascension of Harry’s father, King Charles III, the grandchildren of a sovereign become princes or princesses of the realm.
Meghan explained why it is important for her to identify as a Sussex, revealing: “You have kids and you go, ‘No, I share my name with my children.’
“I didn’t know how meaningful that would be to me, but it just means so much to go, this is our family name, our little family name.”
Mindy then responded: “Now I know, and I love it.”
Meghan had addressed the significance of her new last name in an interview with People, explaining: “It’s our shared name as a family, and I guess I hadn’t recognized how meaningful that would be to me until we had children.
“I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H, and I all have together. It means a lot to me.”
She added that the Sussex name is “part of our love story,” adding: “I think as the kids get older, they’re so excited about, ‘Oh my gosh, Mama and Papa, how did you meet?’
“I think that will come with time as they get older, but for right now a huge part of our love story is that we share the name Sussex.”
It’s not the first name change Meghan has undergone since marrying into the British Royal Family, as she was previously listed as “Rachel Meghan, Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex” on Archie’s birth certificate, which was later amended to simply read: “Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex”, without her birth name.
She and Harry also gave up the ‘HRH’ (His/Her Royal Highness) title when they stepped down as working members of the Royal Family in 2020 during their move from the UK to the USA, but still use the titles of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
