Using the title “princess" in public for the first time, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan revealed that their daughter had been christened in a private ceremony in California on Wednesday.
Princess Lilibet Diana, who turns two in June, was christened on Friday by the Reverend John Taylor, Archbishop of Los Angeles, according to a statement from Harry and Meghan. A later update to the Buckingham Palace website will include Lilibet's title as well as that of her brother Archie, who will turn four in May.
The children's titles were used for the first time in the announcement. The announcement marked the first time that the children's titles had been used in public.
How do royals get prince and princess titles?
Only the male-line grandchildren of the monarch are eligible to receive the titles of prince and princess, according to a decree signed by King George V in 1917.
As long as the late Queen Elizabeth II was alive, Harry and his older brother, Prince William, were the sovereign's grandchildren. Harry and William's children, as great-grandchildren, didn't receive the titles automatically.
Elizabeth had the authority to change the laws, however, so in 2012 she ruled that Prince William and his wife, Catherine, would be allowed to raise their children as princes and princesses. Harry and Meghan were exempt from this ruling.
Since Queen Elizabeth’s death, William and Harry’s children are royal grandchildren and can use the titles prince and princess.
But for the past six months, they have remained a simple “master" and “miss" on the Buckingham Palace website.
Parents of eligible royal children ultimately decide how and whether their children use a title.
Prince Harry's peers in the royal family have historically made various decisions. With the births of Peter and Zara in 1977 and 1981, respectively, Princess Anne and her then-husband Mark Phillips rebuffed offers to confer royal titles on their offspring. In a similar vein, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie chose against bestowing “prince" and "princess" titles on their children and instead gave them the courtesy titles of Lady Louise and Viscount Severn James.
