King Charles will feel 'great sadness' at not seeing Archie on sixth birthday amid fears cancer-stricken monarch may never see his youngest grandchildren again due to Harry rift

Daily Mail​

06-05-2025

King Charles will be feeling a sense of 'great loss' because he will not see his youngest grandson Archie on his sixth birthday today - or perhaps ever again.
The monarch, 76, who is battling cancer, will be suffering because he may never spend time with his two youngest grandchildren in person due to the rift with his California-based son, who he fondly calls 'darling boy'.
Harry, who will head to Las Vegas later today for an awards ceremony, has hinted he will never take his wife and children to the UK while he is denied the automatic right to armed police bodyguards funded by the British taxpayer.
He has also claimed that his father will not speak to him due to his legal challenge over his UK security. And amid the fallout over his BBC interview, Charles, who is in London to mark VE Day celebrations, may not have any contact with Archie today either.
Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond has said that Meghan and Harry will give Archie a 'magical' birthday - but any contact with his British grandfather appears unlikely. She said that this situation will cause 'great sadness' for the King.
'He always loved Harry – he called him "darling boy". And I'm sure he still loves Harry and would love even more to be able to spend time with Archie and Lilibet', she said.
'Charles is a sentimental man and a doting grandfather to George, Charlotte and Louis. And I'm sure as his struggle with cancer continues, he thinks more about the great loss of not being able to spend time with Harry's children'.
Last month Meghan, who is estranged from her father Thomas, revealed that her children consider her friends as family.
Ms Bond added that she would hope that the royals will reach out to Archie, even though there is a rift with his parents.
'It would be very nice if the King, and William and Catherine, marked young Archie's sixth birthday in some way. After all, it's not the poor little lad's fault that all this has happened. So I hope that, either publicly or privately, they do at least send the little boy their good wishes', she said.
Meghan described a hair stylist as an 'auntie' to her Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet in an episode of her new podcast.
The Duchess of Sussex said her six-year-old son and three-year-old daughter 'run out' whenever Kadi Lee, co-founder of hair brand Highbrow Hippie, arrives in her car.
In episode three of Confessions Of A Female Founder, Meghan described Lee as 'Auntie Kadi'. Lee called herself 'Super Aunt', adding that she had no children.
The Duchess – who revealed last November that she had invested in Highbrow Hippie - also referred to Serena Williams as Lilibet's 'auntie' in an online post recently.
But Meghan made no reference to the children's auntie the Princess of Wales, who first met Archie a week after his birth in May 2019 with her husband Prince William.
Prince Archie, the eldest child of Harry and Meghan Markle, turns six today - marking five years since the Sussexes moved across the pond.
But his birthday couldn't come at a busier time with the second anniversary of King Charles 's Coronation, the 80th anniversary of VE Day and - of course - Harry's no-holds-barred interview with the BBC.
Following his unsuccessful legal challenge, Harry turned his attention to his father, saying he 'does not know how much longer he has left'.
Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior royals and moved to the US in 2020, stating they wanted space to raise Archie.
They wrote on Instagram: 'This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter.'
Hours after the BBC interview aired last week, Meghan posted a black and white photo on her Instagram account showing her husband walking through a garden holding Archie's hand and carrying daughter Lilibet on his shoulders.
Since relaunching her Instagram account on New Year's Day, Meghan has routinely shared glimpses of her life in Montecito, California - including pictures and videos of her two children with Harry.
Meghan had deleted the personal account she had used before becoming the Duchess of Sussex three months before marrying Harry in 2018.
The launch of her new account, which has the handle @Meghan, coincided with her new cooking show and lifestyle brand.
From the glimpses Meghan has revealed on social media, six-year-old Archie has unsurprisingly changed a lot since we last saw him as a baby.
Most of the snaps of the children show them in the garden with their faces hidden.
There has been a huge reaction to these posts - with many followers expressing delight that the children have both inherited their father's fiery red hair.
The family moved to California with Archie, who was less than a year old at the time, and their daughter Lilibet was born in 2021.
Meghan and Harry have worked hard to keep their children out of the spotlight by carefully controlling their public image.
Vanity Fair reported last month that after years of treading a fine line between privacy and publicity, Meghan seems to have worked out out how to balance them both.
While Lilibet was born in the US after the Sussexes had stepped down, Archie began his life in May 2019 while his parents were working royals. In September and October 2019, he accompanied his parents on a tour of southern African, visiting Malawi, Angola, South Africa and Botswana, and he was photographed with South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
There was some expectation that Harry and Meghan's children would also be public figures - but from the beginning the couple have bypassed tradition.
For instance, they delayed Archie's birth announcement until after they had returned home from the hospital. The usual protocol is for a royal birth to be made public shortly after it has happened
But even though the couple made it clear they wanted more privacy for their children, they went on to announce the gender of their second child when Harry and a heavily-pregnant Meghan did their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey.
This was mocked on an episode of Comedy Central's South Park, called The Worldwide Privacy Tour, in which a couple known as the Prince and Princess of Canada travel the world in search of their privacy, while giving sit-down television media interviews demanding their privacy. Reference to them comes only obliquely, through physical resemblance and, in the Prince of Canada's case, the promotion of a book called Waaaagh.
The first public picture of Lilibet was a profile view in the family's 2021 Christmas card, and the public didn't see her whole face until the following summer.
Also in 2021, Meghan shared a snap of Archie feeding chickens in a coop during an interview with Ellen DeGeneres - without showing his face.
When Meghan launched lifestyle company As Ever, Lilibet was a co-star in the brand imagery - running alongside her mother in an aerial photograph.
Meghan's Instagram posts suggest that the couple have become more comfortable giving the public a peek into their lives - as long as it is on their terms.
In February, Archie featured in a post as Meghan filmed herself walking around her garden in Montecito.
And for Valentine's Day, Meghan shared a clip of her son and daughter making treats with red bagels and strawberries, including a picture of the back of Archie's head.
In the video, one of their children, thought to be Archie, was heard saying, 'Mummy, I can do it if you want me to' as Meghan watered the plants.
Meghan then said 'only if you want', before handing him the hose.
Royal observers were ecstatic at catching a glimpse of the young prince's personality, and gushed about how 'grown-up' and 'polite' he sounded
In March, a clip of Meghan baking biscuits with her two children appeared on screen on the Drew Barrymore Show.
In the video, Lilibet was seen standing on a step next to the kitchen counter. It only showed her from behind.
Later on, some little hands were also seen grabbing some of the finished cookies from the boxes.
At the end of the clip, Archie, whose face wasn't shown, was seen standing and eating a cookie as Meghan leaned in to give him a kiss on his head.
Meghan has even begun to reveal more about her children in interviews, saying in April that she hoped to be home in time for Archie to lose his first loose tooth. She was attending the Time100 Summit in New York City when she made the comment.
On April 27, Meghan shared photos of the children in the garden with the caption: 'Sunday kind of love… with my little loves'.
The post also included a snapshot of Archie as he looked at some pink flowers and another photo of him holding a flower in front of his face.
The Duchess of Sussex recently spoke about about filming her Netflix show - With Love, Meghan - around her kids.
During an appearance at the Time100 Summit, Meghan said she chose not to film inside her own home to protect her children.
Instead, Meghan hired a nearby $8million farmhouse to film in.
'When people say, 'Why didn't you film in your house? Well, I have kids coming home for their nap and 80 people in the kitchen isn't really the childhood memory I'd want them to have,' Meghan said.
She added that 'we were really fortunate to find something close by,' before saying drawing a boundary for her family is 'how I take care of myself'.
The Duke of Sussex lost a Court of Appeal challenge against the Home Office over his security arrangements last week.
It followed a decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures to downgrade his high-level police protection after he and Meghan stepped down from full-time royal duties to move to the US.
Since then, Harry has argued his private protection team in the US no longer has access to the UK intelligence information needed to keep his wife and children safe.
The prince said losing the legal challenge meant it was now 'impossible' for him to bring Meghan and their children to the UK safely.
He said because of the decision over the loss of his security protection, he cannot 'see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point.
'I can only come to the UK safely if I am invited, and there is a lot of control and ability in my father's hands.'
Harry said he wanted 'reconciliation' with the Royal Family but claimed the King 'won't speak to me'.
He said: 'Ultimately, this whole thing could be resolved through him, not by intervening, but by stepping aside and allowing the experts to do what is necessary.
'There have been so many disagreements between myself and some of my family.
'Of course, they will never forgive me for lots of things but... there's no point in continuing to fight any more.
'Life is precious. I don't know how much longer my father has, he won't speak to me because of this security stuff. It would be nice to reconcile.'
As the children grow up outside the Palace, Harry and Meghan will have to navigate uncharted territory when it comes to deciding when - and if - to share private moments of their children's lives with the world.
But in the meantime, Meghan's followers are delighted to see more glimpses into her children's life across the pond.
While Harry has said he will miss his son's birthday this year to attend an event in Las Vegas, Meghan is more than likely to have a fun-filled day planned at home.