AceShowbiz - Lawyers for Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex have fired off a legal warning to BBC bosses over "false and defamatory" reporting regarding the name of their newborn daughter.

The British royals welcomed their second child on 4 June (21) and revealed they had chosen the name Lilibet Diana for the tot in honour of Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and his late mum, Diana, Princess of Wales.

A number of initial reports suggested the new parents had reached out to the monarch prior to the baby's birth to seek her approval in using her family nickname for their little girl but, on Wednesday (09Jun21), the BBC's long-time royal correspondent Jonny Dymond claimed that wasn't the case, citing a "palace source" in his news piece.

However, he then went on to quote a statement issued by a representative for the Duke and Duchess, explaining, "The Duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement - in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called."

"During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honour. Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name."

As the report was picked up by other outlets, Harry and Meghan had lawyers at London-based firm Schillings threaten legal action against BBC officials, blasting their claims as "false and defamatory," reports Variety.

The news emerges just weeks after former BBC broadcaster Martin Bashir came under fire for using deceptive tactics to land his controversial TV interview with Princess Diana back in 1995, following an independent inquiry into the conduct of the reporter and his network chiefs.

BBC bosses and Bashir apologised for their actions, and Prince Harry subsequently suggested the explosive interview was the beginning of the end for his mother, who died in a mysterious car crash in Paris, France two years later.

Harry and Meghan, who stepped down as senior royals and relocated to the Duchess' native California last year (20), previously went to war with officials at Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Mail on Sunday and sister website MailOnline, successfully suing them for invasion of privacy after the 2019 publication of excerpts of a private letter the former actress wrote to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018.