The family name became a topic of public interest again in March, during Meghan’s Netflix series With Love, Meghan, when she gently corrected friend Mindy Kaling for calling her “Markle” rather than “Sussex.”

Mountbatten-Windsor is the official surname for descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Changing it might have been interpreted as a slight toward King Charles III, who reportedly holds the Mountbatten name in high regard, just as his father did.

The tensions between Prince Harry and King Charles remain unresolved since Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal duties in 2020. One lingering issue has been their loss of publicly funded security, which Harry referenced in a BBC interview, stating he “can’t see a world” where he would bring his family back to the U.K. without adequate protection.

The Mountbatten name originates from Prince Philip, who adopted it upon becoming a British citizen in 1947. Windsor, the royal house name adopted by King George V in 1917, was combined with Mountbatten in 1960 when Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip decided it would be the surname for their direct descendants.

While royals don’t typically use surnames day to day, children often adopt a version of their parents’ titles in school or the military. For example, Harry and his brother William used “Wales” growing up, in reference to their father’s title, Prince of Wales.

When King Charles ascended the throne in September 2022, Archie and Lilibet officially became prince and princess, in line with royal protocols. Their titles were then updated on the royal family’s website to “Prince Archie of Sussex” and “Princess Lilibet of Sussex” in the line of succession. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles were originally granted to Harry and Meghan by Queen Elizabeth on their wedding day in May 2018.

Last year, PEOPLE confirmed that the couple had adopted “Sussex” as their family name for their children, maintaining the royal custom of using titles as informal surnames.