Happy birthday, Archie Harrison!
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's son turned 1 year old on Wednesday. The proud parents marked the major milestone by posting a video of the Duchess of Sussex reading the child one of his favorite stories, Duck! Rabbit!. The clip, which was filmed by the Duke of Sussex, was posted to Save the Children UK's and Save With Stories' Instagram pages to help children and families impacted by the coronavirus and to drive awareness to the food and leaning resources needed.
The trio also received messages from the Royal Family. For instance, Kensington Palace's Instagram account, which is the official account of Prince William and Kate Middleton, posted well-wishes and shared a photo from Archie's christening.
"Wishing Archie a very happy first birthday today!" the post read.
The Royal Family's official Twitter account, which shares content about the activities of Queen Elizabeth and other royals, also tweeted a photo of The Queen, Prince Philip, Doria Ragland, Harry and Meghan smiling at the little one after he made his public debut.
"Happy Birthday to Archie Mountbatten-Windsor who is celebrating his 1st birthday today!" the post read. "Archie is The Queen's eighth great-grandchild."
In addition, Clarence House's Twitter account—the official account for Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall—shared a photo of the Prince of Wales smiling at Harry and Archie at the christening.
"A very Happy Birthday to Archie, who turns one today," part of the post read.
As royal admirers will recall, Meghan gave birth to Archie at Portland Hospital in Westminster on May 6, 2019. While Harry and Meghan have mostly shielded their firstborn from the limelight, they have shared a few family moments with the public. For instance, the two shared a photo of their baby boy in their last Christmas card and brought him along for their first royal tour as a family of three.
At the end of March, Harry and Meghan officially stepped back as "senior" members of the royal family. However, The Queen made it clear that "Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved members" of her family.
Before Harry and Meghan's royal exit, there had been rumors of a rift between Harry and William. Harry addressed the speculation in ITV's documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey.
"Inevitably stuff happens," he said. "But we're brothers, we'll always be brothers. We're certainly on different paths at the moment. I'll always be there for him and as I know, he'll always be there for me. We don't see each other as much as we used to because we're so busy but I love him dearly."
He also said that "the majority of stuff is created out of nothing" and that "as brothers" they had their "good days" and "bad days."
Since stepping back, Harry and Meghan have been spending time in North America, including Canada and Los Angeles.
"Archie has been loving doing FaceTime playdates with other small children they have in their lives. He brings a great deal of joy to them both in these scary times," a source told E! News in regards to how they've been spending their time amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
So, how do Harry and Meghan plan to celebrate their son's big day this year?
"I think the hope in royal circles had been that the Sussexes would return to the UK in May, either before or after their attendance at the Invictus Games in The Netherlands next month, and they were also due to attend the Queen's Birthday Parade, Trooping the Colour on June 13th. The hope had been that Archie's first birthday would somehow be marked with some members of the royal family, cousins, grandparents and some godparents etc in the UK when they were over in the UK. But with both those events now cancelled, and Harry and Meghan holed in California where they are likely to be social distancing for the next few weeks, Archie is set to celebrate his first birthday with only his parents. Possibly also Doria, depending on what the restrictions are in California come May 6," a source told E! News last month. "But it won't be the big first birthday celebration they will have been planning, with friends, family and some godparents."