The Duchess of Sussex, who was born Rachel Meghan Markle, shared the personal update during a conversation with actress and comedian Mindy Kaling. The revelation surprised many fans, who assumed she still went by Markle.
“It’s so funny too that you keep saying Meghan Markle,” the duchess told Kaling in the episode. “You know I’m Sussex now.”
Meghan explained that the decision to embrace the Sussex name became more significant after the birth of her two children with Prince Harry. “You have kids and you go, ‘No, I should share my name with my children,’” she said. “I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me, but it just means so much to go, ‘This is our family name, our little family name.’”
The couple married in 2018 and became the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. They welcomed their son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in 2019, followed by daughter Lilibet Diana in 2021. While they stepped down as senior royals in 2020, they retained their Sussex titles, a decision that has sparked debate in Britain.