Why the royal family hasn't marked Prince Archie's birthday
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are celebrating their son, Prince Archie's fifth birthday on Monday – and while he has an extended royal family, he won't receive any public birthday wishes from them.
In keeping with tradition, it is likely the young royal's special day will be marked privately at his family home in Montecito, California, with his parents, sister Princess Lilibet, and his grandmother, Doria Ragland.
While it's become somewhat traditional for key members of the British royal family to share their birthday messages online, senior royals will not publicly wish Prince Archie a happy birthday.
There is a valid explanation, however as they only mark the birthdays of working members of the royal family on their official social media accounts.
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HELLO!'sOnline Royal Correspondent Danielle Stacey explains: "In recent years and certainly since King Charles III's reign began in September 2022, we have only seen public messages from the royal family's social media accounts for working members of the royal family, such as the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Princess Royal.
"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back as senior royals in 2020, and no longer carry out royal duties. Similarly, the palace doesn't typically share messages on the likes of Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie and Zara Tindall's birthdays nor their children's special days."
While it has not been formally announced how Archie will spend the day, if it is anything like his previous birthdays, it will be a rather pared-back affair.
Last year, the young Prince was thought to have celebrated his fourth birthday at home. Archie's first birthday was captured in Netflix's Harry & Meghan. The prince was seen in his highchair which was covered in confetti wearing an adorable hat with a gorgeous fruit-topped cake.
Meghan and Harry's son has celebrated all his birthdays in the United States, despite being born in London.
Archie spent the first six months of his life at the Sussexes' former home Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor estate, before experiencing his first snow in Canada during Harry and Meghan's six-week break on Vancouver Island.
At five months old, he charmed on the royal tour of South Africa – his only outing with his parents on an official engagement – and showed an early love for books, giggling as Meghan read Duck! Rabbit! on his first birthday in 2020.
He "loves being a big brother", his mother has said, and was seen helping Lilibet to blow out her candles on her first birthday, which the family celebrated in the UK during Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022.
Archie and Lilibet are Harry and Meghan's priority – after attending the King's coronation, which coincided with his son's fourth birthday, the duke quickly flew back to the US.
His fifth birthday is likely to be more understated than his cousins Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte who celebrated her ninth birthday earlier this week, and Prince Louis of Wales, six.
Princess Kate and Prince William's children's birthdays are usually celebrated with a new photograph of the birthday girl or boy taken by their mother posted to their social media.
The Wales children's birthday celebrations have ranged from an afternoon tea at Kensington Palace through to parties at Anmer Hall in Norfolk. They also receive new toys for their birthdays like their cousin Prince Archie.
