The Duchess of Cambridge ‘can’t wait’ to meet Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s baby daughter Lilibet, despite recent tensions in the Royal Family.
Kate Middleton, 39, was asked about her new niece during a visit to a school in Cornwall for the G7 summit.
She said: ‘I wish her all the very best, I can’t wait to meet her. We haven’t met her yet but hopefully that will be soon’.
The Duchess also confirmed that she hadn’t had the chance to Facetime with her niece yet, after Harry and Meghan introduced their daughter to the Queen on a video call.
Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor was born last Friday at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, California, weighing 7lb 11 oz.
She will be known as ‘Lili’ for short, after the Royal Family’s nickname for the Queen.
Her middle name was chosen to honour her late grandmother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
It follows months of tensions between the Sussexes and the rest of the Royal Family
Kate and her husband
Prince William are understood to have already sent a
gift to Los Angeles for Lilibet, a source told US Weekly.
In a
social media post soon after hearing of the birth, the Cambridges said:
‘We are all delighted by the happy news of the arrival of baby Lili.
Congratulations to Harry, Meghan and Archie.’
It follows months
of tensions between the Sussexes and the rest of the Royal Family in the
fallout of their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The
couple made a number of shocking claims during the CBS special in March,
including that a member of the family raised concerns over what colour
their son Archie’s skin would be.
Meghan, 39, said she had
suicidal thoughts as she struggled with the pressure of being a senior
royal, claiming she couldn’t get any help from Buckingham Palace.
She
also said the palace didn’t help her shut down rumours that she made
Kate cry during a bridesmaid dress fitting and claimed it had actually
been the other way around.
Meghan and Harry announced the birth of their second child on Sunday
She also suggested Archie was not
given the title of prince because he is mixed-race, while Harry
suggested his father and brother were ‘trapped’ by the institution and
couldn’t leave like he did.
More recently the Duke of Sussex
caused a stir at the Palace when he appeared to have a dig at his dad
Charles’ parenting, claiming he wanted to break a cycle of ‘genetic
pain’.
It has been suggested that Harry and Meghan’s choice of
name for their newborn daughter could be an ‘olive branch’ to the Royal
Family.
The couple have hit back at claims that they did not
mention to the Queen in advance what they planned to name their baby,
despite a palace source telling the BBC otherwise.
Kate and Prince William are understood to have already sent a gift for Lilibet to LA
Harry and
Meghan have since threatened the corporation with legal action through
law firm Schillings, claiming its story was ‘false and defamatory’.
The
Duke says he told the Queen they wanted to name their daughter Lilibet
and said ‘had she not been supportive, they would not have used the
name’.
But it is thought this call was made after the baby was born but before the Sussexes’ announcement.
Rather
than backing their turn of events, Buckingham Palace has refused to
deny suggestions the Queen was ‘never asked’ about the name.
Reports
suggest that while the monarch was told that Lilibet would be named
after her, royal aides only found out about her birth with the rest of
the world.
Buckingham Palace appeared to be caught off guard by
the timing of the news, with a spokesman congratulating the couple 90
minutes after it broke.
Some time after the Sussexes statement
but before they responded, the palace posted news about Princess Anne
travelling to Dorset for the anniversary of the 13th Signal Regiment.
They finally released a message hailing the ‘happy news’ at 6.34pm