Redacción Harry considered changing his last name to Spencer, which sparked family tensions.
The Duke of Sussex is said to have sought advice from Earl Spencer, his mother's brother, to abandon the Windsor surname
Prince Harry reportedly seriously considered changing his family surname. According to the Daily Mail, the Duke of Sussex consulted Earl Charles Spencer, brother of the late Princess Diana, about the possibility of adopting his mother's surname: Spencer.
During a recent visit to the United Kingdom, Harry and his uncle had a private conversation. According to sources close to the prince's circle, the discussion was cordial, but Charles Spencer did not support the idea. A friend of the Duke told the British outlet that the Earl advised him not to proceed with that change.
A symbolic shift that could have deepened family rifts
Harry reportedly considered leaving behind Mountbatten-Windsor, the official surname borne by descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip since 1960. This combination comes from the British royal lineage (Windsor) and the surname adopted by Philip upon becoming a British citizen, after renouncing his Greek and Danish titles.
Abandoning that surname would have been a gesture with significant symbolic weight. The decision could further strain the ties between Harry, his brother Prince William and his father, King Charles III. Already estranged for personal and media-related reasons, a surname change could have represented a definitive break with the royal family.
What would happen to his children?
The children of Harry and Meghan Markle —Archie Harrison and Lilibet Diana— bear the surname Mountbatten-Windsor on their birth certificates. Both received their titles of prince and princess after their grandfather's accession to the throne, not by right of birth.
If Harry had gone ahead with the change, his daughter would have been named Lilibet Diana Spencer, a name with strong echoes of her maternal grandmother, Diana Spencer.
Over the past few years, Meghan has publicly stated that she considers "Sussex" her family surname. However, this internal debate reportedly reflected Harry's search to reaffirm his identity, distancing himself from the institutional weight of the British monarchy.
The rumor was never confirmed by the prince himself, but the possibility already opened a new chapter in the story of a family marked by the tension between tradition and rupture.
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