Prince Harry will see his son Prince Archie celebrate his birthday and turn six today – but despite the happy occasion, it also lays bare the nature of the bitter rift between the Sussexes and the rest of the Royal Family

The fallout may be continuing over Prince Harry’s bombshell interview after losing the latest round in his court battle over security. But the Duke of Sussex has a very happy reason to celebrate today as he and Meghan’s oldest child Prince Archie turns six. Harry’s children, which also includes three-year-old Princess Lilibet, are at the centre of his world with insiders describing the Duke’s home life as a “happy bubble”.

The children are now often carefully featured in Meghan’s Instagram posts, helping her to bake cookies in the kitchen, collect berries from their vast garden’s fruit bushes and whip up breakfast for the family. In a defiant post after Friday’s court loss and subsequent explosive interview where Harry claimed his father the King no longer speaks to him, the Duke could be seen in a family snap holding Archie’s hand while balancing Lilibet on his shoulders.

Harry with his children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet(Image: Instagram/meghan)

Despite it being Archie’s birthday, Harry is set to head to Las Vegas today, where he will launch a new youth initiative with the Diana Award, set up in memory of his late mother, Princess Diana.

But former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond believes the Sussexes will still ensure Archie has an incredible birthday celebration. She told the Mirror, “I’m sure Harry and Meghan will make his birthday magical, and Meghan will obviously make it all very pretty and tasteful as well!”

However, any celebration will be filled with sadness, given that Harry’s father, the King, will almost certainly not be involved in any celebrations. Just last week, in his interview with the BBC, Harry laid bare the stark nature of his relationship with the King.

Harry claimed his father, who is being treated for cancer, will not speak to him, and he does not know “how much longer my father has” as he spoke of his hopes for a “reconciliation”. The interview came after losing his Court of Appeal challenge over his security arrangements, and he said he “can’t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK.”

The stand-off between father and son means that, since Archie and, indeed, Lilibet, have not spent much time with their grandfather. However, it wasn’t always such a fraught relationship – especially with Archie – with the King saying he “couldn’t be more delighted” when he was born in May 2019. When he was christened, the King’s former Clarence House Instagram account shared a touching photo of Charles proudly gazing at Archie.

However, as Harry and Meghan decided to dramatically quit as working royals and up sticks from the UK and move to the United States in early 2020, the King has spent little time with his young grandson. Their last meeting was in 2022 when Archie came to the UK with his parents during the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Harry and Meghan introduce Archie to the world six years ago (Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

And Jennie believes it is still a “great sadness” for the King to be a stranger to his two grandchildren, as well as it seems these days to his youngest son, Harry. She says: “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.

“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.

“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.”

Another relative to have spent little time with Harry’s children is his older brother Prince William, who has “no incentive” to speak to Harry after his latest outburst as his taxpayer-funded security row ended in defeat.

The rift between the Sussexes and the royal family opened significantly following their interview with Oprah Winfrey, during which they alleged a member of the family was concerned about their son Archie’s skin tone before he was born.

Then the duke claimed in his controversial memoir, Spare, that William had physically attacked him, that the King put his own interests above Harry’s and was jealous of Meghan.

Harry with his estranged father and brother King Charles and Prince William (Image: Getty Images)

For Jennie, the current state of affairs, which sees William and Harry bring up their children on opposite sides of the Atlantic without speaking, would have once been unthinkable. “I always imagined Harry and William remaining close and enjoying watching their children grow up together,” she explains.

“And I guess there must be times when they both think the same. But there is absolutely no sign of the cousins ever getting to know one another. Harry probably has more time and reason than William to think about the rift that he has caused and I’m sure it is a great sadness to him. But he has chosen a different life in a different country, and that looks as if it is where he will stay.

Now it seems that any way for the royals to get to know Harry’s children would be for a reconciliation between the Firm and the Duke of Sussex, something he said he would like to happen.

However, according to Majesty Magazine editor-in-chief Ingrid Seward, Harry’s apology for his past actions will be a long time coming despite his pleas.

She told the Mirror: “He refuses to take responsibility for his actions. If he wants reconciliation, why does he still attack his family? Harry’s stubbornness will almost certainly prevent him from bringing his wife and children to the UK. At least in the immediate future. He said he realised he had upset the ‘family’ but never once offered to apologise.

“The King knows this. But he also understands that under Harry’s accusatory exterior, he is extremely vulnerable. But as King, Charles needs total trust. He is Head of State and Monarch and that has to come first as Charles vowed at his coronation. “He will be very sad it has come to this. But if he can’t trust Harry, he has to avoid him until such time things change. If they ever do.