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King Charles wished his grandson Prince Archie a happy birthday “wherever he was” at a private family gathering at Buckingham Palace following his and Queen Camilla’s coronation, the Chron reported.
Archie turned 4 years old on Saturday, the day of the coronation. While his father, Charles’ son Prince Harry, was attending the coronation ceremony in London, he immediately afterwards drove to Heathrow Airport to come home for Archie’s birthday, which has long been reported as his intention to do so. At the event he had been seated in the third row with relatives such as Princess Eugenie of York and appeared to have had no direct communication with Charles or his brother Prince William.
Communications between the brothers are understood to have spared since the release of Harry’s blockbuster memoir, which revealed the full extent of Harry’s anger at the royals, and in particular the brothers’ deteriorating relationship, including a confrontation when William Harry allegedly practically nonexistent on a dog bowl.
Guests at the palace reception on Saturday reportedly included Camilla’s immediate family as well as Kate Middleton’s family.
“It was apparently a very sweet moment.”
— Royal source
The Mail reported that while most members of the royal family “sighed with relief” that Harry wasn’t at the event, Charles was “really quite disappointed that he wasn’t staying”. He raised a glass to William and Kate Middleton’s three children before toasting “those who weren’t there” and wishing Archie a happy birthday “wherever he was”.
“It was apparently a very sweet moment,” a royal source told the Mail.
Harry reportedly landed in California at 7:30 p.m. California time on Saturday and rushed home so he could be there himself for Archie’s birthday. Archie’s birthday party was “low key” and included a lemon cake that Meghan prepared with fruit from her Montecito garden, the Mail on Sunday reported, adding that some of the couple’s celebrity friends were said to have attended the “small, intimate gathering”. . ‘ and Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland.
A source told the Mail on Sunday that Meghan “stayed home to celebrate Archie’s birthday because she felt it would be inauthentic to do anything else,” adding: “She wanted to minimize the drama. “