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King Charles wished his grandson Prince Archie a very happy birthday “wherever he was,” at a Buckingham Palace private family gathering after his and Queen Camilla’s coronation, the Daily Mail reported.
Archie turned 4 on Saturday, the same day as the coronation. While his father, Charles’ son Prince Harry, attended the coronation ceremony in London, he left for Heathrow airport immediately afterwards in order to make it home for Archie’s birthday, as had long been reported he intended to do. At the event he had been seated in the third row, with relations including Princess Eugenie of York, and didn’t appear to have had any direct communication with Charles or brother Prince William.
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Communication between the brothers is understood to be virtually non-existent since the publication of Harry’s blockbuster memoir, Spare, which revealed the full scale of Harry’s anger towards the royals, and specifically the brothers’ deteriorating relationship, including one confrontation when William allegedly pushed Harry on to a dog bowl.
The palace reception’s guests on Saturday reportedly included Camilla’s close family, as well as Kate Middleton’s family.
The Mail reported that while most members of the royal family “breathed a sigh of relief” that Harry wasn’t at the event, Charles seemed “genuinely quite disappointed that he didn’t stay.” He raised a glass to William and Kate Middleton’s three children, before toasting “those that weren’t there,” 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 7.30pm local time on Saturday, rushing home so he could be there on Archie’s birthday itself. Archie’s birthday party was “low-key” and featured a lemon cake made by Meghan using fruit from their Montecito garden, the Mail on Sunday reported, adding that some of the couple’s celebrity friends were thought to have attended the “small, intimate gathering,” as well as Meghan’s mom, 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.”
