Can You Guess Meghan Markle & Prince Harry's Adorable Pet Names For Each Other?
M & H forever.
getty We know them best as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex — or, more commonly as Meghan Markle and Prince Harry — but they know each other by much more endearing names.
The Royal Family might live entirely different lives than we do as average Joes and Jills, but they're similar to us in many ways, including their tradition of coming up with adorable nicknames and charming terms of endearment for each other.
Babe, honey, baby, sweetheart, bae — you know the terms used among us commoners, but what do the key figures of Great Britain's monarchy call one another in private?
According to an article, Meghan and Harry have been heard referring to each other with short but sweet versions of their given names.
Prince Harry calls his wife "Meg" for short, and Meghan gave her hubby the nickname "Haz." Before they'd even met, Meghan and Harry were called all but their given names by those closest to them. To Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, she's known as "flower."
The Duchess of Sussex once posted on her now-deleted Instagram account, "My mum has always called me 'flower'. Nickname since I was a little girl."
Meghan also appears to have been dubbed "bean" by her father, Thomas Markle, now famously known for dragging his daughter through the media.
In 2016, she posted a sweet Father's Day message thanking him for "my work ethic, my love of Busby Berkeley films & club sandwiches, for teaching me the importance of handwritten thank you notes, and for giving me that signature Markle nose. I love you xo — Bean."
Meghan's father-in-law and the future King of England, Prince Charles, has a taken to calling her by a meaningful title of his own. He reportedly calls her "Tungsten," a reference to one of the strongest metal on Earth.
As for her hubby, during an interview alongside his brother on the tenth anniversary of their mother's passing, Prince Harry revealed that Princess Diana enjoyed calling him "Ginger."
His friends have also been known to call him "Spike" and "Potter," the latter no doubt a reference to J.K. Rowling's character, Harry Potter.
Reflecting on a pile of books she noticed on a nearby ottoman while interviewing the Duke of Sussex in 2017, Lisa LaFlamme wrote, "The title that caught my eye was the same one the Prince's communications director promptly put away — a picture book about Harry Potter. To his friends, 'Potter' is the Prince's nickname but apparently not something Palace PR would want to distract from our interview."
There have been some new nicknames that the couple has called each other that are swoon-worthy.
In their documentary, Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, Meghan called Harry "H," and later on we found out that he calls her "M."
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are far from the only Royals to acquire a full set of nicknames, of course.
Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, recently revealed, "I was nicknamed Squeak just like my guinea pig. There was one called Pip and one called Squeak because my sister was called Pippa and I was Squeak."
Prior to meeting her future husband (and being dubbed "Waity Kaity" by the media), the Queen-to-be was called "Princess in waiting" by fellow students at Marlborough College.
And following "an alleged incident at her eventual alma mater, [Kate] is said to have mooned out of a window at a group of boys," thereby earning her the affectionate moniker, "Kate Middlebum."
While brother-in-law Prince Harry is known to call her "Cath," Prince William, ever the proper Royal, prefers to call his beloved wife the very British pet name "Poppet."
In fact, he has been overheard speaking with "Poppet" about their son, Prince George, as their "little grape." The couple has also been said to call each other by names such as "darling," "babe," and "babykin" over the years.
In that same interview, Prince William shared Princess Diana's chosen nickname for him — "Wombat" — which he says "kind of stuck."
"I can't get rid of it now," he said. "It began when I was two. I've been rightfully told because I can't remember back that far. But when we went to Australia with our parents, and the wombat, you know, that's the local animal. So I just basically got called that. Not because I look like a wombat, or maybe I do."
And no, not even Queen Elizabeth II has the power to avoid the House of Windsor's love of a good nickname.
In the 2006 film The Queen, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, alludes to his wife as "Cabbage," a nickname her biographer, Robert Lacey, confirmed.
"Yes, I've heard that is how he will sometimes refer to her," he revealed. However, the reason why he calls her a vegetable is unclear.
The Queen's consort is more commonly known to call his wife "Lilibet," the name her close family took to using with her when, as a child, "she couldn't pronounce her own name."
Back in 1988, it was revealed that the Queen's scandalous uncle, the Duke of Windsor — who, as King Edward VIII, abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson — had invented his own set of nicknames for the members of the Royal Family and their close associates, including "Cookie" for the Queen Mother, "Shirley Temple" for Queen Elizabeth II, and "Cry Baby" for Winston Churchill.
So, at least in yet another small way, it looks like the Royal Family isn't so different than our own nicknames, in-fighting and all. Well... minus the castles, riches, and expensive closets for us, of course.
Sarah Gangraw is a writer with a degree in journalism. She writes about all things news, entertainment and crime. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter for more.
Editor's Note: This article was originally posted in August 2018 and was updated with the latest information.