Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly explored the idea of changing their family name amid a prolonged delay in receiving passports for their children.

Harry, 40, consulted his uncle Charles Spencer about the possibility of using the Spencer surname during the impasse, according to The Guardian.

The U.K. outlet reports that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had grown “exasperated” over the repeated delays — with the passports for Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, arriving nearly six months after the initial application. Standard processing time is typically around three weeks.

“There was clear reluctance to issue passports for the kids,” a source close to the Sussexes said, according to the outlet.

A source confirms that the delay was significantly longer than normal.

A legal source also told The Guardian that government officials were allegedly “dragging their feet because the passport applications included the titles HRH (His/Her Royal Highness) for both children.”

A source claimed to The Guardian that “the King hadn’t wanted Archie and Lili to carry the titles, most of all the HRH, and the British passports, once created, would be the first and perhaps the only legal proof of their names”.

Buckingham Palace strongly denied the claim that the King or his officials had any role in the delay, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The source added to The Guardian, “Harry was at a point where British passports for his children with their updated Sussex surnames (since the death of Queen Elizabeth II) were being blocked with a string of excuses over the course of five months.”