ARCHIE MOUNTBATTEN-WINDSOR
The joy on Her Majesty’s face was plain to see as she met Archie for the first time, two days after his birth. Gazing at the newborn while the Duke of Edinburgh and maternal grandmother Doria Ragland looked on, the Queen looked like any other besotted great-grandma as she was introduced to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s son at Windsor Castle.
“He has the sweetest temperament, he’s really calm,” new mum Meghan said at the time. “He’s just been the dream, so it’s been a special couple of days.”
Born early on 6 May 2019 at London’s Portland Hospital, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor has had a very different start in life to his royal cousins. After a first few months at Frogmore Cottage, on the Windsor estate, he is now growing up in his mother’s native California, outside the confines of royal family life.
His parents’ decision to give up their roles as senior royals last year was, in part, driven by their desire to give their son privacy and as normal an upbringing as possible. After leaving Britain at just six months old, the baby boy spent time in Canada before Harry and Meghan bought a secluded, nine-bedroom mansion in exclusive celebrity enclave Montecito.
Home to Hollywood royalty such as Oprah Winfrey, Ellen de Generes and Gwyneth Paltrow, the area is surrounded by unspoilt beaches and national forest – something the Sussexes take great pleasure in.
“This year has been crazy for everybody, but to have outdoor space where I can go for walks with Archie… we can go for walks as a family and with the dogs, and we can go on hikes, or down to the beach, which is so close,” Harry said this year during his and Meghan’s TV interview with Oprah. “The highlight for me is sticking him on the back of a bicycle in his little baby seat and taking him on these bike rides, which is something I was never able to do when I was young. I can see him on the back, and he’s got his arms out. And he’s going: ‘Woooo!’ Chatting, chatting, chatting, going: ‘Palm tree,’ ‘house’…”
Although seventh in line to the throne, Archie does not have a royal title. However, once his grandfather the Prince of Wales becomes King, he will be entitled to be a Prince.
Harry and Meghan closely guard their son’s privacy and only occasionally give the public a glimpse of their little boy. His first and only official royal tour was to southern Africa in September 2019, when his cheeky smile melted hearts. “He loves to flirt,” Meghan told Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter Thandeka Tutu-Gxashe.
Since his parents’ move to the US, the toddler has only been seen publicly a few times, including in a video clip Harry and Meghan shared in March, walking on a beach with his parents and Guy, one of the family dogs. I n an earlier video, to mark his first birthday, Archie was seen sitting on Meghan’s lap as she read him a story and, in December, he made a surprise appearance on his parents’ first podcast for Spotify, showcasing a sweet American accent as he was encouraged to wish listeners a happy new year. He has also featured on the Sussexes’ Christmas cards and in May was pictured clutching balloons in a snap shared by his proud parents to celebrate his second birthday.
“He’s got the most amazing personality,” Harry told chat-show host James Corden this year. “He’s already putting three, four words together, already singing songs.”
While they remain protective of two- year- old Archie, Harry and Meghan have been keen to involve him in some of their ventures. Their non-profit organisation, Archewell, is named after him, while Meghan’s children’s book, The Bench, was inspired by her husband and son.
Happily for the toddler and his parents, social worker and yoga instructor Doria lives in Los Angeles and is sure to see a lot of him. But, with Harry’s family more than 5,000 miles away, Archie and his baby sister Lilibet do not have that same close relationship with their royal relatives.
Harry has, however, revealed that the monarch keeps in touch with her eighth great-grandchild via Zoom video calls and even that she gave Archie a waffle maker for Christmas. “Both my grandparents do Zoom,” he said this year, before Prince Philip’s death in April. “They’ve seen Archie running around.”
It certainly seems that, whatever the distance between the Queen and the transatlantic branch of her family, Archie and Lilibet hold a special place in her heart.
The Queen keeps in touch via Zoom and gave him a waffle maker for Christmas
‘He’s got the most amazing
personality. He’s putting words
together, singing songs’ Harry
She may not be a Princess, but Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor’s name is as royal as they come. Her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, chose it in honour of the Queen, whose childhood nickname Lilibet was coined when, as a toddler, the then Princess Elizabeth couldn’t pronounce her own name. Diana is, of course, a tribute to her late grandmother Diana, Princess of Wales. But to the baby girl’s adoring family, she is known simply as Lili.
Announcing her birth on their Archewell website this year, Harry and Meghan wrote: “On June 4, we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter, Lili. She is more than we could have ever imagined, and we remain grateful for the love and prayers we’ve felt from across the globe. Thank you for your continued kindness and support during this very special time for our family.
“Lili is named after her great-grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen, whose family nickname is Lilibet. Her middle name, Diana, was chosen to honour her beloved late grandmother, The Princess of Wales.”
Buckingham Palace said the Queen was “delighted”, while the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge also tweeted their best wishes.
Her Majesty’s 11th great-grandchild, Lili is the only one to be born outside of the UK and her royal relatives are yet to meet her in person. Like her brother, she is being raised outside the royal family, following her parents’ decision to step down as working royals.
Lili’s arrival at a hospital in Santa Barbara, near their home in California, completes the couple’s happy family and, together with her two- year- old brother Archie, she can look forward to an idyllic, sunny childhood near the beach and close to plenty of green, open space.
In March, Harry and Meghan told of their joy at discovering they were expecting a girl, revealing their baby’s gender to Oprah Winfrey during a televised interview.
“To have any child, any one or any two, would have been amazing,” Harry said. “But to have a boy and then a girl, I mean what more can you ask for? Now we’ve got our family, we got the four of us and our two dogs.”
Eighth in line to the throne, Lilibet has no title – though, like Archie, she will be entitled to be a Princess once her grandfather, the Prince of Wales, ascends to the throne. Nevertheless, Lili and her brother’s lives will be very different from that of their cousins Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, who will have an increasingly public role as they get older.
In their secluded home in the hills, with their rescue dogs and chickens, the Sussex children are likely to remain oblivious to their position in one of the world’s most highprofile families for some time.
So keen are Harry and Meghan to protect Lilibet from the glare of the royal spotlight, they have not yet shared a photo of the baby girl. But they do give an occasional update about their youngest child. Chatting to Ed Sheeran at a charity event in the summer, Harry said of his daughter: “She’s very chilled and seems happy to just sit there while Archie is running around like crazy.”
‘ Lili is named after her great-grandmother, Her Majesty the Queen’