The Duchess of Sussex posted some new-to-us photos of Archie for his seventh birthday on Wednesday. One baby pic of baby Archie on his father’s chest and one pic of Archie and Lili from behind with the Santa Ynez Mountains in the distance. Meghan’s message: “7 years later…happy birthday to our sweet boy.” While Meghan definitely posts more photos of Lili on her Instagram, I have to say, there are more photos of Archie in the public sphere overall. Especially because of the Netflix series – there were so many great Archie videos and photos in the docuseries. He seems like a sweet boy… who doesn’t care about hummingbirds because he has a dirty foot. And his foot is only dirty because he was with his mom!
Well, on Archie’s birthday, the Mail predictably wailed and moaned: “Prince Archie will today celebrate his seventh birthday more than 5,000 miles away from the Royal Family, who have only met the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s son a handful of times.” WHO’S FAULT IS THAT? King Charles STILL hasn’t extended any invitations to his ginger grandchildren, nor has Charles made the effort to visit the Sussex family. Archie is exactly where he should be, surrounded by people who love him and protect him. I’ve been grateful since the Sussexit that Archie is being raised far away from the Windsor racists and the insane British press. Speaking of, People Magazine had a nice story about Archie’s birthday:
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are giving their children the space to be themselves — a parenting priority shaped by Harry’s own experience growing up in the spotlight. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are parents to daughter Princess Lilibet, 4, and son Prince Archie, who turned 7 on May 6. As Archie celebrates his birthday, a close source tells PEOPLE that the couple is intentional about allowing their children to grow into their own identities.
“They give their kids space to be themselves — for their different personalities to flourish,” the source says. “After growing up so publicly, that was really important to Harry.”
Harry was raised under intense public scrutiny as the younger son of future King Charles and Princess Diana, an experience that has continued to shape how he approaches parenthood today.
At an event hosted by Movember during the couple’s four-day trip to Australia in April, Harry spoke candidly about wanting to do things differently.
“I see parenting evolving over time,” he said. “Our kids are our upgrade. Not to say that I upgraded my dad or that my kids upgraded me, but the kids that we bring up in today’s world need to be upgraded….There’s no judgement, there’s no blame. However you are parenting… you are going to want to improve on that.”
I do think this is a subtweet of what was coming down the pike if the Sussexes had stayed in the UK – an endless “comparison” between William and Harry’s kids, Archie being pushed into a prescribed role like Harry was. Archie would have been the rascal, the scapegoat to his Wales cousins, etc. Now Archie just gets to be Archie. He gets to be free from all of that bullsh-t.
Photos courtesy of Meghan’s Instagram, SussexRoyal Instagram and Netflix.
