Buckingham Palace updated the line of succession to include Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's daughter, Lilibet, almost 2 months after her birth
- Prince Harry's daughter was added to the line of succession on Buckingham Palace's website.
- Lilibet Diana, the second child of Harry and Meghan Markle, was born on June 4 in California.
- Unlikely to ever see the throne, Lilibet is now eighth in line, behind her brother, Archie.
Buckingham Palace updated its line of succession to include Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's second child on Monday, almost two months after her birth.
Lilibet "Lili" Diana Mountbatten-Windsor was born on June 4 at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in California. Behind her older brother, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, Lilibet is eighth in line to the throne.
Her birth shifts the line of succession, according to Buckingham Palace, moving Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, into ninth in line.
Buckingham Palace took 52 days to update the website detailing the line of succession. Chris Ship, the royal editor for ITV, had released an episode of his "Royal Rota" podcast on Friday calling attention to Lilibet's absence.
"You have got to ask what has taken them so long," he said. "All they have got to do is hit the paragraph button and put in a different number.
"They must have done it before. They did it for Archie. Clearly they did it for Louis when he was born," he said. "So where's Lilibet? I can forgive them a week or two, but a month?"
According to the Daily Mail, Archie's name was added 15 days after he was born, on May 6, 2019, and Prince Louis, the youngest child of Prince William and Kate Middleton, was added 12 days after he was born, on April 23, 2018.
In an email to Insider, Robert Jobson, a royal correspondent, said the website update "makes no difference."
"As the legitimate daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex Lilibet is next in eighth in line to the throne after her brother Archie," he said.
"Unless there is legislation to stop Prince Harry taking his place in the line of succession and he denounces the rights of his children," or unless William and Kate have another child, Lilibet will be next in line, Jobson added.
Nigel Cawthorne, the author of "Prince Philip: I Know I Am Rude," told Insider that there could be a few reasons it took nearly two months for Buckingham Palace to update the line of succession. "Buckingham Palace is a bureaucratic machine that works at its own pace," he said.
"There could, of course, be COVID delays," Cawthorne said. "But given the continuing royal turbulence around the Sussexes, such as Harry's surprise memoir deal and naming the baby Lilibet, it is certainly a possibility that courtiers are working to rule on this matter."
While Archie has a profile feature on Buckingham Palace's website, Lilibet has yet to have one of her own.
Buckingham Palace representatives did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.