Since he was born in May, the public has only seen royal baby Archie Mountbatten-Windsor a handful of times. But today, in celebration of Prince Charles’ birthday, proud parents Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have shared another previously unseen photograph of their son.
Prince Charles celebrates his 71st birthday today, 14 November, and to mark the occasion the Duke and Duchess uploaded an Instagram post to the @SussexRoyal account. The picture is a black and white one of Prince Charles, along with Prince Harry and a teeny tiny baby Archie on his christening day. In the image, both Harry and Charles can be seen gazing down in adoration at the young royal who is bundled up in the family’s traditional lace christening gown.
The caption of the picture reveals that Meghan, Harry and Archie (if he could speak) all call Prince Charles different names. Prince Harry calls his father ‘Pa’, Meghan Markle refers to the Prince of Wales as ‘Sir’, and for baby Archie? It’s a simple ‘Grandpa’ (or, it will be in years to come).
“Happy birthday to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales – Sir, Pa, Grandpa!” read the Instagram post, along with a birthday cake emoji to finish.
This new photo of Archie Harrison dates back to July, when he was just two months old (royals like to do their christenings quickly), but now the royal baby is six months old, and according to his parents he is starting to crawl.
During a surprise visit with military families last week, ahead of Remembrance Day, Meghan and Harry spoke to one woman, Amy Thompson, about their young son’s development. Speaking to Army&You Magazine, Amy recalled the conversation:
“My daughter Aeris is the same age as Archie and we talked about weaning and the children beginning to crawl—she’s just a normal mum and it was like talking to a friend,” she said.
So far, Archie has only appeared publicly in an official capacity twice. The first time, he was two days old and fast asleep as new parents Meghan and Harry presented their newborn to the world in a photo call at Windsor Castle.
The second appearance came more recently, in September, when baby Archie was taken to meet human rights activist, the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, while on a royal tour of South Africa.
The then-five-month-old looked adorable in his light blue dungarees over the top, beaming with a wide smile as he was carried by the Duchess of Sussex.
This week, Buckingham Palace confirmed Meghan, Harry and Archie would not be spending Christmas with the Queen at Sandringham, bucking the royal tradition they’ve followed for the past two years.
A royal spokesperson said the couple is “looking forward to extended family time”.
“Having spent the last two Christmases at Sandringham, their royal highnesses will spend the holiday this year, as a new family, with the duchess’ mother Doria Ragland.”
H/T Cosmo UK