Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have welcomed their second child, a daughter named Lilibet Diana.
The couple released a statement Sunday announcing their daughter’s arrival, who was born Friday at the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California. Both she and Meghan are healthy and settling in at home.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting their second child.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting their second child.Misan Harriman
“Lili is named after her great-grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen, whose family nickname is Lilibet,” the statement said. “Her middle name, Diana, was chosen to honor her beloved late grandmother, The Princess of Wales.”
The couple added a thank you to all their supporters, saying that Lili “is more than we could have ever imagined, and we remain grateful for the love and prayers we’ve felt from across the globe.”
Harry and Meghan already have a son, Archie, who just turned two last month. They announced Meghan was pregnant with Lili in February, months after the duchess opened up about had suffered a miscarriage in July in a New York Times op-ed.
Meghan explained in the November essay that, “Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few.”
Lili shares her middle name with her cousin, Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, daughter of Prince William. She is expected to be eighth in line to the throne, following her older brother in the line of succession.
Unlike her brother, who was born when Harry and Meghan were still residing at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, England, Lili was born on U.S. soil.
She is not, however, the first child in the royal family to be born in America. Maud Windsor, daughter of Lord Frederick and Sophie Winkelman, was born in Los Angeles in 2013, according to royal commentator Victoria Arbiter. Lord Frederick is the son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.
The couple announced the sex of their second child during a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired in March. Meghan told Winfrey that they didn’t have plans to have any more children and Harry described feeling gratitude seeing their daughter’s ultrasounds.
“To have any child, any one or any two, would be amazing, but to have a boy and then a girl, what more can you ask for?” Harry said. “Now we’ve got our family. We’ve got the four of us and our two dogs, and it’s great.”
