Archie is trying to walk, she says (shame the Queen can’t see him)

HE IS one of the most carefully protected Royal babies of recent t i mes, with news and pictures of his young life kept to a bare minimum.

But t he Duchess of Sussex has revealed that her ten-monthold son Archie is now attempting to walk.

She was in conversation with 66-year-old Geraldine Dear, when she disclosed the news during a school visit on Friday.

Ms Dear, one of the original ‘Dagenham Girls’ who campaigned for equal pay for women at the Ford car factory in Essex, said: ‘I just had to ask her about the baby. She said to me, “He’s exactly ten months today and he’s started trying to walk.” ’

In a separate conversation, Meghan told a sixth-former at the Robert Clack School in Dagenham that ‘having Archie changed my life’. Afterwards, Year 13 student Olivia Collins said: ‘She was talking about how having Archie has changed her l i f e a nd how i mportant motherhood is.’

If the news of Archie will intrigue Royal fans, there also is consternation at Buckingham Palace about Meghan and Harry’s decision not to bring their son with them to the UK – their final visit as working Royals.

A source said the Queen was ‘sad’ that she would not see Archie for some time, particularly as she has had little opportunity to meet her great-grandson. Archie is said to have stayed behind in Canada with his nanny and Meghan’s best friend Jessica Mulroney.

Meghan’s mother Doria remains in Los Angeles.

The l ast public s i ghting of Archie was on New Year’s Eve when a photograph was released on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Instagram account. It showed Harry holding his son on a beach.

Privately, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are said to be sad that their three children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – have no relationship with their young cousin. The decision to leave Archie in Canada is not the only mistake made by the Sussexes as they carry out their farewell engagements.

On Friday, the Duchess of Cornwall gave a landmark speech at the Women Of The World Festival at London’s Southbank Centre.

Having spoken about the importance of eradicating domestic violence, aides had been hoping for good media coverage.

So they were said to be ‘surprised’ when the Duchess of Sussex, Royal Patron of the National Theatre, chose that day to release information about her visit to the high-tech Immersive Storytelling Studio that experiments with the use of virtual reality. Pictures of Meghan alongside a hologram appeared in newspapers shortly after t he Duchess of Cornwall’s speech.

A spokesman at the National Theatre said images were released to London’s Evening Standard ‘because the Duchess of Sussex wanted them in the Standard’.

The publicity – which threatened to overshadow Camilla’s work – raised eyebrows at the Palace.

A source said: ‘I’m not sure it was very well thought through.’