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NZ Herald
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Duchess of Sussex marks anniversary with unseen images of Archie, Lilibet
'Thanks to all of you (whether by our side, or from afar) who have loved and supported us throughout our love story – we appreciate you. Happy anniversary!' The mood board, titled 'Our love story', includes a photograph of Archie clutching his younger sister's arms as he tenderly kisses her head in front of a Christmas tree. Another shows Harry and Meghan painting with their children in the garden and another depicts the foursome on a beach. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (@meghan) The post, said by a source to 'capture a celebratory moment', featured an array of highlights from each year Harry and Meghan have been together. The earliest images were taken during private holidays, among them trips to London and Botswana, in 2016, before their relationship was publicly known, and previously unreleased images from their official engagement shoot in 2017. A previously unseen photograph taken on the day Harry proposed to Meghan is also included, as is a picture of their trip to Norway to see the Northern Lights early in 2017. Photographs from 2018 include a wedding portrait by Alexi Lubomirski and a sketch of the duchess' coat of arms for their joint coat of arms. Meghan also wrote out the lyrics to Stand by Me by Ben E King, which was played at their wedding. An image from the couple's 2019 Australia tour, when they announced Meghan was pregnant with Archie, includes a hongi (a traditional Māori greeting) between the couple in New Zealand, a sonogram, a pregnancy portrait and an intimate image of Harry with Prince Archie, taken within an hour of his birth, were chosen to capture 2019. Meghan also posted before and after shots of one of their final official engagements, the Mountbatten Festival of Music at the Royal Albert Hall on March 8, 2020. The couple posed in casual clothes before dressing up for the concert. Since moving to the US, Harry and Meghan have fiercely guarded their children's privacy. But the duchess has increasingly posted photographs of them on her Instagram feed, often with their faces obscured. The post comes a fortnight after the duke lost his appeal against the British government over security. In a lengthy BBC interview given after the ruling was handed down, he revealed that his father, the King, would not take his calls and insisted the monarch had the power to authorise the state-funded police protection he wanted. In April, the duke and duchess called for stronger protections for children online after unveiling a memorial in New York City to young people who lost their lives because of the harmful effects of social media. Harry and Meghan joined a vigil and met families who believe social media played a part in the deaths of their youngsters. The duke told the BBC that 'life is better off social media' and said 'enough is not being done', adding that he was 'grateful' Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet were still too young to be online. Harry and Meghan married at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle in 2018 and appeared to be the modern, multicultural face of the British monarchy, but ultimately decided to leave the institution and escape press intrusion.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Last Royal Engagement Not Only 'Looked Cold' But 'Felt Cold,' Harry Said
Kate Middleton made her return to the annual Commonwealth Day service yesterday for the first time in two years—and five years ago, in 2020, that same service at Westminster Abbey marked the official end of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's career as working royals. It all started with a statement on January 8, 2020, announcing the couple's intention to step back as working members of the royal family. Less than two years after their May 19, 2018 wedding, the couple quit royal life and relocated from the U.K. to the U.S. with their son, Prince Archie, who was less than a year old. (Princess Lilibet would be born in the U.S. in 2021.) Harry and Meghan carried out royal engagements until the official end of their work as royals on March 31, 2020. They flew back to the U.K. in March for the Endeavour Fund Awards on March 5, the Mountbatten Festival of Music at the Royal Albert Hall on March 7, and the aforementioned Commonwealth Day service on March 9, which doubled as a tense, uncomfortable family reunion between Harry, Meghan, and the rest of the royals in attendance that day, including Prince William, Kate, Queen Elizabeth, and Prince Charles. 'The first time that we saw the other members of the family was in public at Westminster Abbey,' Meghan said in the 2022 Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan. To this, Harry added, 'We were nervous seeing the family, because all the TV cameras and everybody watching at home and everybody watching in the audience. It's like living through a soap opera where everybody else views you as entertainment.' At the Commonwealth Day service, Harry and Meghan sat next to Prince Edward and Sophie, who was then Countess of Wessex (and is now Duchess of Edinburgh) and behind William and Kate. As William and Kate sat down, Meghan gave a small wave, and she and Harry smiled and said hello to them—but the tension was high. 'I felt really distant from the rest of my family, which was interesting because so much of how they operate is about what it looks like, rather than what it feels like,' Harry said. 'And it looked cold. But it also felt cold.' Following Harry and Meghan's royal exit, there was a one-year probation period put in place to make sure that all parties were still okay with the decision. On February 18, 2021—less than one month before Harry and Meghan's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey—the decision was made final: Harry and Meghan would be staying in the U.S. and not returning to the U.K. and royal life. 'This is what Meghan and Harry have always wanted—to create their own life,' a source told People in March 2020. 'It's got to feel like an immense relief to get out of the U.K. and go down their own path.' Read the original article on InStyle
