Meghan Markle has lashed out at the media, after pictures of her son’s birth certificate emerged on the weekend showing a name change made a month after his birth.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex took aim at a “carnival of so-called ‘experts'” wheeled out by the British press, as more media reports hinted at a growing rift between the young family and the royal family.

British tabloid The Sun on the weekend began circulating pictures of Archie’s birth certificate, which showed in June 2019, a month after he was born, Meghan’s name was altered to “Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex”.

Her given names – Rachel Meghan – were removed from the start of the title.

Prince Harry’s title also got an update on the certificate. It was updated to include “Prince”, becoming “His Royal Highness Prince Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex”.

Why the change? Everyone assumed – thanks to reporting – it was Meghan who requested it.

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The Sun‘s tangent suggested it was just another sign of the rift between the US-dwelling ex-royals and Buckingham Palace.

Meghan Markle and the Queen, pictured in June 2018. Photo: Getty

But according to a statement made just a day later, the name change came at the request of the palace.

“The change of name on public documents in 2019 was dictated by the palace, as confirmed by documents from senior palace officials. This was not requested by Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, nor by the Duke of Sussex,” a statement from Meghan and Harry said, given to Page Six.

The palace can be read as, “at the direction of the Queen”.

The statement then took aim at media reporting surrounding the certificate leak.

“To see this UK tabloid and their carnival of so-called ‘experts’ chose to deceptively whip into a calculated family ‘snub’ and suggest that she would oddly want to be nameless on her child’s birth certificate, or any other legal document, would be laughable were it not offensive,” it continued.

“There’s a lot going on in the world; let’s focus on that rather than creating clickbait.”

Tweet from @GirlTema

In 2020, Harry and Meghan vowed they would no longer work with the British tabloids, including The Sun, after relentless ‘false reporting’.

“It is gravely concerning that an influential slice of the media, over many years, has sought to insulate themselves from taking accountability for what they say or print – even when they know it to be distorted, false, or invasive beyond reason. When power is enjoyed without responsibility, the trust we all place in this much-needed industry is degraded,” the couple said.