View gallery
Eyebrows raised! Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s kids were not featured in a birthday tribute for their late great-grandma shared by Prince William and Kate Middleton on Friday. Taking to Instagram, the new Prince and Princess of Wales celebrated Queen Elizabeth II on what would have been her 97th birthday with a sweet photo (below) of her great-grandchildren, although Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1, were noticeably absent. HollywoodLife has reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
“Today would have been Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s 97th birthday,” William and Kate captioned the snap, adding, “This photograph – showing her with some of her grandchildren and great grandchildren – was taken at Balmoral last summer.” Their three kids — Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4 — were featured prominently in the photo, as well as great grandchildren Savannah Phillips, 12, Isla Phillips, 11, Mia Tindall, 9, Lena Tindall, 4,Lucas Tindall, 2. Eagle-eyed fans also pointed out that Princess Eugenie’s son, August, 2, and Princess Beatrice’s daughter, Sienna, 1, were also absent from the snap.
Regardless of the reason, the omission of Archi and Lilibet certainly won’t help ease ongoing royal tensions. The birthday post comes a day after it was reported that William and Harry will both attend their father King Charles’ official coronation but they aren’t looking to mend their sibling rift. “Things are strained,” a source told People, just weeks ahead of Charles‘ May 6 coronation at Westminster Abbey. Another insider added that the royal siblings still have “no communication” and that their joint attendance will “do little to ease tensions.” They added, “I don’t think the coronation and a big conversation can be conflated.”
The royal siblings have been at odds for quite some time. Their relationship was clearly tested when Harry and Meghan stepped down from their royal duties in 2020, but, per Harry’s new bombshell memoir Spare, the brothers also had a previous falling out when one of their confrontations led to a physical fight. During Harry’s 60 Minutes interview on January 8, the Duke of Sussex even claimed it had been “a while” since he spoke with William.
In addition, Harry got candid about where he stands with William and Charles as of late. In a Good Morning America interview with Michael Strahan, Harry explained how his and William’s mother, the late Princess Diana, would feel about the sibling feud “I think she would be sad,” Harry said. “I think she’d be looking at it long term to know that there are certain things that we need to go through to be able to heal the relationship.” As for his speaking terms with King Charles, Harry admitted, “We haven’t spoken for quite a while.” He added, “The ball is very much in their court.”
Click to Subscribe to Get Our Free HollywoodLife Daily Newsletter to get the hottest celeb news.