Prince Archie has marked his fifth birthday at home in California but a palace insider believes the sixth-in-line to the throne is “missing out” on a major royal tradition.
Prince Archie marked his fifth birthday at home in California on Monday but a royal insider believes the sixth-in-line to the throne is “missing out” on the usual traditions enjoyed by other royal family members.
Royal author Tom Quinn believes Archie is missing out on birthday traditions because of his parents’ Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s estrangement from the monarchy.
“Archie is definitely missing out on some rather sweet Royal birthday traditions – because the family is never short of money they don’t buy each other expensive gifts,” he revealed to The Mirror newspaper.
“That would just be too easy and pointless as every member of the family has enough money to buy any and everything they want.
Prince Archie turned five on Monday but the milestone was ignored by the palace. Picture: ALEXI LUBOMIRSKI/The Times
“Instead, whenever it is someone’s birthday, there is a royal race to find the funniest, silliest present – Kate probably holds the record for the most amusing present.”
According to Mr Quinn, the Princess of Wales once gifted Harry a “grow your own girlfriend kit” years before he met his future wife Meghan Markle.
“The fun of buying cheap, amusing presents for each other has always shown the lighter side of the Royal Family and it’s sad Archie won’t get to experience this,” Mr Quinn said.
The Princess of Wales once gave Harry a “grow your own girlfriend” kit. Picture: Getty.
The Windsor birthday tradition is similar to the Christmas gift giving tradition at Sandringham in which royal family members give each other novelty or homemade gifts.
The insight is the latest sign of how Archie and his sister Princess Lilibet are living between two worlds as royals without any connection to the United Kingdom.
Despite living thousands of kilometres away from Buckingham Palace, Archie and Lilibet are higher in the line of succession and closer to the throne than senior royals like Prince Edward and Princess Anne.
Nevertheless, Meghan reportedly declined an invite to join her husband in London this week to mark the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games and has not visited the UK since September 2022.
Archie’s big day was also ignored by the official royal family social media accounts although the palace has publicly wished the Prince a happy birthday in previous years.
According to the BBC, the palace has opted to no longer wish non-working royals a happy birthday, possibly as part of King Charles’s broader plans to “slim down” the monarchy to its core members.