The Sweet Way Meghan Markle Is Connecting Lilibet To Princess Diana's Legacy

Since Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet were very young, their parents Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have ensured they consistently speak to them about the children's late grandmother, Princess Diana. In their Netflix docuseries "Harry and Meghan," she held baby Archie as he interacted with a photo of the People's Princess hanging on their wall. In addition, Lilibet's middle name is Diana, in honor of her late grandmother. Besides this, the former "Suits" star connects her daughter to her in many other ways too. 

While Meghan never got to meet her mother-in-law, they shared a lifelong love of Cartier watches. Like the beloved royal, Meghan wants to gift treasured items to her children — an idea she had long before marrying Harry. While Diana got at least some of her watches as gifts from other people, Meghan's Cartier was her own special gift to herself. "I've always coveted the Cartier French Tank watch," she gushed to Hello! magazine in 2015. "I plan to give it to my daughter one day. That's what makes pieces special, the connection you have to them."

Diana owned three different Cartier watches, two of which were the brand's Tank design, and she wore both throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The Duchess of Sussex's watch, meanwhile, is two-tone metal, and Diana owned the same Française model done in all gold. Happily for Meghan, her late mother-in-law's watch came to her as a present from Harry. In 2020, the former actor generated headlines when she was spotted wearing this cherished timepiece. It's possible that Lilibet could eventually inherit this gold watch as well, as a remembrance of her grandmother.

In addition to passing down family heirlooms, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, may also end up connecting her kids to Princess Diana through the personality traits she shares with her late mother-in-law. "So much of what Meghan is, and how she is, is so similar to my mum," Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, explained in "Harry and Meghan," adding, "She has the same compassion, the same empathy, she has the same confidence. She has this warmth about her." 

Harry has continued to feel his mom's presence in his life for years, and he's had age-appropriate conversations with his kids about their grandmother accordingly. As Archie's grown up, the prince has worked specific memories about Diana into their conversations. A discussion about how some Invictus Games athletes were injured by landmines segued into Harry telling his son about Diana's 1997 work with the HALO Trust to catalyze their landmine-clearing efforts. After hearing his dad's story, Archie was curious to know more. "He wanted to see videos and photographs of his Grandma Diana out doing her thing for landmines all those years ago," Harry told CTV News.

Memories of the People's Princess continue to pop up in the Sussexes' lives as they go about their regular days too. In a February 2025 Instagram Story, Meghan (perhaps unintentionally) paid tribute to Diana, while she and her kids were out and about together. Meghan wore the same kind of purple Northwestern University sweatshirt that Diana famously donned in the past. This commonality could serve as a way to share another story about their grandmother with Archie and Lilibet.