Sigh - we had almost a full week of silence about H&M, and it was quite a refreshing change.
The name was chosen to have maximum impact and to raise the Sussexes profiles again. If no one in there H&M camp had any idea that this would be major click bait, then they are all completely thick.
It's a really short sighted move. That poor child is saddled with the name for life, and even if the Queen lives to 105, by the time she is 10, the link will be gone.
They could have called her Lili and explained (as they did in the statement) that it was a nod to Lilibet. It would still have been click bait, but would not have caused quite the same fervour. Plus Lili wouldn't be saddled with such a loaded name.
If there is an actual PR strategy from the Sussex camp, then it's that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Their statements are always very carefully worded, worthy of a skilled politician, and always obscure the actual point - here it is whether the Queen expressly gave her permission.
BUT - I'm sick to the back teeth of the press briefings from all sides. The sources, and friends, who keep running to the press. I can absolutely see H&M's point about essentially being stabbed in the back by rival factions of the palaces.
Not that H&M have learned from that, or risen above it. They attack more directly some of the time, and then go back to sources and friends when it suits them.
No doubt they'll deny being involved in the updated Finding Freedom, despite Omid Scobie being their unofficial spokesperson.
The RF sources are only inflaming the H&M saga and dragging it out for much longer than necessary.
H&M are also targeting the wrong person. The Queen is not going to live forever, and H&M need a long term money making strategy which will go on far beyond the Queen's life and reign.
They need to be repairing the damage with Charles and William if they want to continue the association with the Royal Family once Charles is king.
I agree with previous posters about the mother's families being left out of the naming, for both the Cambridge and Sussex children.
Yes, yes, Carole's middle name is Elizabeth, and Pippa's middle name is Charlotte, but it's not the same as a direct link like Elizabeth Diana. Catherine's dad is Michael, and her brother is James, but neither of those names feature for either of her sons, but Charles makes it into the mix.
So Carole and Pippa might not have been accepted as they aren't traditional royal names, but both James and Michael could easily have been inserted.
H&M aren't bound by the same constraints when naming their kids, but chose to reference the RF anyway, and they also don't include Doria at all (Lili as a reference to Doria calling M "flower" as a child is cobbled together nonsense).