Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's son Archie's second birthday: Queen leads well-wishes

The Queen has led well-wishes to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor on his second birthday. 

The official Royal Family Instagram account shared a photo of Harry and Meghan introducing their son at Windsor Castle in May 2019. 

The caption reads: ‘Wishing Archie Mountbatten-Windsor a very happy 2nd birthday today.’ It is almost identical to the one shared for Princess Charlotte’s sixth birthday last week.

The Queen, who has 10 great-grandchildren, has not seen Archie for at least 18 months. It is believed he was last in the UK in the autumn of 2019 before Harry and Meghan left for Canada.  

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who are expecting their second child together, last year released a video showing Archie reading a book with his mother to mark his first birthday but it remains to be seen if fans will be given a fresh glimpse of the toddler today.

Harry and Meghan have kept Archie out of the spotlight and public photographs in recent months, choosing to keep his face hidden in their illustrated Christmas card and leaving him out of the pregnancy announcement. 

Harry and Meghan, who live in Montecito, California, are expected to spend the day as a family. 

It comes just days after Meghan announced details of her first children’s book, The Bench, which explores the ‘special bond between father and son’ as ‘seen through a mother’s eyes.’

It will be illustrated by bestselling Californian artist Christian Robinson, who called it a ‘celebration of the relationship between father and son.’ 

A publicity release said Meghan, who chose to use her title on the cover of the book, wanted the story to be told through an ‘inclusive lens’ and will feature a ‘diverse group of father and sons’.

In one illustration, a red-headed soldier wearing an American-style Army cap is seen holding his young son aloft as a woman watches on crying from a window. This is a likely reference to her and Harry, who served in Afghanistan with the Blues and Royals. The words read: ‘This is your bench, Where life will begin, For you and our son our baby, our kin’. 

In another, a father and son can be seen from a birds-eye view as they rest together on a park bench. 

Royal fans were quick to point out similarities between the two story books, with one person commenting: ‘This was stolen from Corinne Averiss – The Boy on the Bench, check it out on Amazon.

‘The graphics and the colours are almost identical. She is about as authentic as a $3 bill.’ 

Another wrote: ‘Before you run and out and waste money on the book by Harry’s wife, read The Boy on the Bench by Corrinne Averiss and Gabriel Alborozo. The original.’

Meghan, who went by the pen name ‘Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex’, announced in a statement yesterday: ‘The Bench started as a poem I wrote for my husband on Father’s Day, the month after Archie was born.

‘That poem became this story. Christian layered in beautiful and ethereal watercolour illustrations that capture the warmth, joy, and comfort of the relationship between fathers and sons from all walks of life; this representation was particularly important to me, and Christian and I worked closely to depict this special bond through an inclusive lens.

‘My hope is that The Bench resonates with every family, no matter the makeup, as much as it does with mine.’   

Sources close to the Duchess have revealed she has long aspired to write a children’s book and hopes to write more in the future.  

They told Vanity Fair the royal ‘loves writing’ and is ‘very good at it.’