The royal family rang in Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor’s second birthday with lots of photo tributes, despite relationship rifts and reports of racist “concerns and conversations” within royal ranks.
Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, and new vloggers Prince William and Kate Middleton’s social media accounts all posted tributes to the little one as he turned 2 on Thursday.
“Wishing Archie Mountbatten-Windsor a very happy 2nd birthday today,” the Royal Family’s account said, alongside a photo of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry during the photo call where they introduced Archie to the world on May 8, 2019.
The Prince of Wales’ social media account posted a black-and-white photo of Charles looking on as Harry holds Archie.
Kate and William’s account posted a photo from Archie’s christening day to mark the little one’s big day.
“Wishing Archie a very happy 2nd birthday today,” they wrote.
Harry and Meghan, who stepped back as senior working royals in January 2020, recently spoke about where their relationship stands with some members of the royal family during an interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Harry said his relationship with his older brother “is space, at the moment” though it was his father, Charles, whom he felt “let down by.”
“He knows what pain feels like, and Archie’s his grandson,” Harry said. “But at the same time, of course I will always love him. But there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened and I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship.”
The Duchess of Sussex also revealed that a royal family member expressed racist concerns about Archie’s skin colour before he was born.
The couple didn’t name names, but they did later clarify that it was not the queen or the late Prince Philip. William later addressed the claims by telling a reporter that the royals are “very much not a racist family.”