Princess Kate message in Harry, Meghan Christmas card
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have released a rare shot of their children – and made an obvious point about the Princess of Wales.
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COMMENT
Well, well, well.
The proof is in, the details confirmed: Prince Harry and Megan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are the parents of two tiny wee redheads. Long may those Teflon Spencer genes reign.
This week, the Sussexes released the first official new photo of their kids, Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3, since 2022, the rare image featuring in their recently unveiled digital holiday card.
This fresh family picture definitively proves massive things about the young prince and princess, like they have arms, legs and get excited to see their parents. I know, it’s bombshell stuff.
Shot from behind and what would appear to be some distance away, Archie and Lili’s faces can’t be seen in the image and the only identifying detail that can be gleaned by even some forensic zooming in is that, hair-wise, they clearly take after their father. (And maternal aunts and uncle. There’s got to be some Viking DNA in there).
It’s a notable departure from the previous instances when the Sussexes have proudly shown off their babies to the world, like their 2021 Christmas portrait or the photos released on Lili’s first birthday.
Be it coincidental, be it a bit of pointed commentary, but the Sussexes’ festive card translates to quite the sharp message about the exposure and the scrutiny that Prince William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales’ children are subjected to.
What is abundantly clear is this – Harry and Meghan do not have the slightest shred or stray crumb of interest in letting the world see their kids’ faces, a choice that, back under the grey skies of Windsor, the Waleses are entirely prevented from making.
Next week on Christmas Day, the royal family will make their way on foot from Sandringham to the nearby St Mary Magdalene Church, the parade a non-negotiable fixture.
On show, and let’s be frank, that’s exactly what this is, will be the Waleses’ three kids, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, possibly along with their second and third Tindall, Chatto and Edinburgh cousins too.
Last year, Mia Tindall joined the prince and princess’ front row showing, the 10-year-old holding hands with Louis before later, after the service, joining George and Charlotte as the small HRHs worked the rope line and met adoring crowds.
(And let’s be real here – that’s what they were doing – working).
Mia’s proximity to the headlining Waleses meant her photo was soon being slapped on news sites from Glasgow to the Galapagos.
It was the perfect example of the degree to which royal children end up on display.
This holds even more so for George, Charlotte and Louis, who rank at the top of the line of succession. To be the child of the future sovereign is to be regularly trotted out to be seen, because visibility is the most fundamental requirement of monarchy.
To William and Kate’s eternal credit, they are doing their utmost to balance the inherent demands of their kids’ royal status while also protecting them as much as is possible, and they have managed to fashion for them the most normal youth in royal history.
George, Charlotte and Louis are growing up with far, far more privacy and with far more breathing room from the press and the public than would have been imaginable even 15 years ago.
But all of this is relative and there are limits.
The fact is that a royal childhood comes with a fair amount of being paraded about the place.
Harry clearly, and entirely understandably, struggled with the regular incursions and intrusions of the media and the demand to be basically exhibited when he was younger.
That is something that he and Meghan have now saved Archie and Lili from ever having to endure, or at least in the fashion that Harry had to swallow when he was young.
That is one clear advantage the Sussexes have gained in fleeing the palace tent for West Coast life. If the duke and duchess had stayed inside the confines of Crown Inc and maintained their working royal status, it seems highly unlikely they would be able to shield their children from the public the way they can now.
What the Sussexes have that the Waleses don’t, and never will, is a degree of control over when and how they choose to share their children with the world.
However, in another fashion, the Wales children have it easier than the tiny Sussexes do.
What George, Charlotte and Louis are getting to enjoy is a childhood that is broadly speaking paparazzi-free, thanks to an arrangement struck between Kensington Palace and Fleet Street.
It goes like this: The tabloids don’t photograph the young princes and princess outside of official outings or occasions where their parents might expect cameras to be, for example a horseshow. In return, William and Kate provide their now-typical stream of birthday photos and other sweet shots.
Archie and Lili will get no such protection, though they are not as frequently papped as you might think.
Still, back in 2020, a photo of Meghan walking on Vancouver Island with a baby Archie saw the duke and duchess sue, the same strategy they employed when they moved to Los Angeles and drones were being flown over their borrowed Beverly Hills house trying to photograph their tiny son. Despite their efforts, photos of Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland and Archie appeared in a European magazine. In 2021, Meghan was photographed picking up Archie from preschool.
Last year, Harry and Meghan were involved in a “near catastrophic” two-hour chase with a horde of paps in New York.
Less extreme but far more persistent is the pipeline of photos taken of them doing such extraordinary things as going out to dinner on an untold number of occasions, out to lunch in Montecito, out to lunch in LA, the duchess ordering at the In-and-Out burger drive, walking their dogs, hiking, hiking again, more dog walking, boarding a private jet, boarding another private jet, more private jet action, riding a bike, leaving a dentist’s office and walking across a car park.
The appetite for these sorts of even wholly mundane images would seem to be a fairly ravenous one and does not bode particularly well for Archie and Lili when they get older.
Tantalisingly, this card with the new Archie and Lili image is from just one of their holiday greetings, with the Sussexes reportedly also sending out a private card too. Might they go so far as to have taken and shared some sort of nice, smiley family portrait?
We will never know, which is just as it should be.
Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles
Originally published as Princess Kate message in Harry, Meghan Christmas card
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