The late Queen Elizabeth II had over 12 great-grandchildren. While the Queen was known for her fondness for children, she once caught royal watchers off guard with a shady three-word remark about Prince Archie. Following the birth of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s first child, the Queen allegedly refused to address him by name, referring to him as her ‘eighth great-grandchild’ instead.

Despite the Queen’s excitement over meeting baby Archie, her snarky three-word comment in the official palace address indicated that things were not good behind closed doors. Royal author and historian, Robert Lacey, told the Daily Mail, “The Queen simply acknowledged the arrival of her great-grandchild in passing, without mentioning his name or his parents: ‘Prince Philip and I have been delighted to welcome our eighth great-grandchild into our family.” The Queen’s cold 2019 address to the world could have something to do with Harry and Markle breaking royal protocol by choosing to photograph their son days after his birth in Windsor Castle, when royal mothers usually participate in a photocall outside the hospital with their newborns.

After Archie was photographed with his parents at Windsor, snaps of the late Queen and Prince Philip meeting him alongside his maternal grandmother Doria Ragland were released to the public. Interestingly, this isn’t the first time that the monarch took a jibe at her grandchildren. When Prince William was welcomed by his parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, the Queen allegedly made a shady remark. According to the Daily Express, she quipped, “Thank heavens he hasn’t got ears like his father,” at the expense of her eldest son, Charles.

On another occasion, the Queen had a savage comment about Markle during a 2022 drinks reception at Balmoral Castle. Her brutal one-word swipe allegedly left courtiers and guests stunned. Speaking to The Spectator, an insider revealed, “It was out of character for the Queen to use such a word as ‘evil’ to describe Meghan…It was a startling sentence to hear from the most forgiving woman on earth.” Her remark was later attributed to her declining health, as she passed just a month later.

Commenting on the Queen and royal tradition, Lacey compared one family custom to that of Soviet Russia. He said, “Who does and who does not feature on the royal Christmas desk has always been like the changing panorama of faces on the historic balcony of Moscow’s Kremlin. It showed who was in favor and who was not.” The historian added, “In 2018, Harry and Meghan had featured smiling in a silver frame. But there would be no sign of them in 2019, nor any mention of the name Sussex.”