Family Feud: Royals ‘Snub’ Harry and Meghan’s Daughter Lilibet on Her Second Birthday
The London and Montecito royals have entered a new phase of their family feud: dragging children into things, apparently. Or
Ivy Griffith
The London and Montecito royals have entered a new phase of their family feud: dragging children into things, apparently.
Or rather, the London royals are dragging children into things.
Because Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s daughter Lilibet turned two on Sunday. Last year, the royal family flooded her with warm wishes.
This year? Radio silence.
It’s an unthinkable escalation in the tensions between Harry and his UK family.
In 2022, the Twitter accounts for the royal family, King Charles and Queen Camilla, along with that of the Prince and Princess of Wales, all wished Lilibet a happy birthday.
However, on Sunday, neither of the three Twitter accounts publicly sent their birthday wishes to the toddler.
And Prince Archie also did not receive any birthday wishes on his fourth birthday, which happened to fall on the same day as King Charles’s coronation last month.
The Independent writes, “Relations between the Sussexes and the royal family have soured in the past year, given the release of Harry and Meghan’s Netflix docuseries and Harry’s tell-all memoir Spare, in which he made a series of claims about his fraught relationship with senior members of the royal family.
Tensions are thought to have consistently worsened since Harry and Meghan decided to step back from royal duties in 2020 and moved to Los Angeles.
While representatives of the Sussexes have not commented on how the family celebrated Lilibet’s first birthday, it is understood to have been a very different occasion, compared to last year’s intimate picnic at their UK residence, Frogmore Cottage, which was attended by members of their British family including Zara and Mike Tindall.
Neither Charles, Camilla, William nor Kate were present at Lilibet’s first birthday or her christening in March.”
Harry is currently facing off with the British press in UK courts, a pursuit which the royal family has asked him to leave off.
Supporters of the royal family seem torn on who is at fault for the ice cold shoulder on Sunday.
Buckingham Palace insists that the king was not snubbling his granddaughter, Princess Lilibet, this weekend when official social media channels ignored her second birthday.https://t.co/pzxxA4Uydd
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) June 5, 2023
Many blame Prince Harry and Meghan, since they chose to leave the royal life and move across the world to California.
But others hold the London royals responsible. After all, there’s a difference between stepping down from royal life for your mental health and icing out the birthday of a toddler whom you love.
Either way, it’s another sign that things are at their worst between the two groups.
Last month, Harry and Meghan were involved with a paparazzi car chase in New York City, one which their PR rep called “near-catastrophic.”
In the wake of the incident, royals in London did not reach out to the couple to check on them – the first sign that they’re simply turning their backs on the pair.
Word has it that Queen Camilla has been pressuring the new King to cut his youngest son off under the theory that “They’re not royals anymore,” and they’ve caused him endless headaches.
Charles seemed resistant to her pressure, but rumors of marital woes between the reigning monarchs could explain why he’s finally caved and has left his youngest son twisting in the wind.
And, apparently, his granddaughter.
The royal palace has reportedly denied that any snubbing occurred, saying that it’s not “protocol” to wish happy birthday online – despite the history that proves it’s tradition, if not protocol.