Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have been accused of another "commercial rebrand" amid claims of seeking advice on changing their family surname.
The Duke of Sussex "sought advice" from his uncle, Earl Charles Spencer, on dropping the Mountbatten-Windsor surname in favour of his late mother's, Spencer.
The change for the Sussexes would also mean changing the surnames of their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Discussing the move on GB News, Mail on Sunday's Editor-at-Large Charlotte Griffiths questioned whether the decision was a suggested "rebrand" by Meghan Markle, as she continues to push with her business ventures to the forefront.
Prince Harry 'sought advice' from uncle Earl Charles Spencer about changing his surname
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Griffiths told the People's Channel: "The whole thing is a bit bizarre. It could be something to do with marketing, because they're not allowed to market the royal name.
"They tried to set up a website called Sussex Royal and they were told no way, you can't be putting royal names on jams, so I just wonder whether they were trying to angle for a Spencer brand or something."
Highlighting a theory by royal author Tom Bower that the potential name change is inspired by Meghan "wanting to be closer to Diana", Griffiths admitted that she doesn't see "any other reason" why they would "suddenly want to become Spencer".
Griffths said: "It does make sense because I can't think of another reason why you'd want to suddenly become a Spencer. It's quite a serious title, Mountbatten-Windsor, it makes you very closely associated with the Royal Family.
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Prince Harry is said to have floated the idea of changing his surname PA"It would really hurt his father's feelings."
Explaining how the surname change would impact their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, Griffiths highlighted how Lilibet's name would become "Lilibet Diana Spencer", further fuelling Bower's theory of Meghan wanting to be closer to Harry's late mother.
Griffiths told GB News: "Mountbatten-Windsor is Archie and Lilibet's surname. Lilibet's full name is Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, so if her surname was Spencer, it would become Lilibet Diana Spencer.
"So one wonders whether she quite wanted her daughter to be sort of known as Diana Spencer, the new Princess of Wales."
Griffiths told GB News that Meghan Markle would use the name change for 'commercial benefit'
GB News
Reacting to Griffiths's theory, host Ben Leo stated that it is "chilling" that Meghan would want that for her daughter.
Revealing more details about the advice Harry sought from his uncle, Griffiths concluded by claiming that Earl Spencer would have told Harry that changing his name is "madness".
Griffiths said: "He wanted to change his name to Spencer, and he approached his uncle and said 'I want to drop the Mountbatten-Windsor name', which was the name inherited from the Queen and Prince Philip.
"It means a lot to the Royal Family, that surname, but he for some reason wants to get rid of it.
"And he asked his uncle, and his uncle very wisely said 'this is a terrible idea, it's legally fraught, just don't do it. This is for the birds and this is madness'."
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