Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are proud parents of two royally adorable children.
The couple, who were married in May 2018, welcomed their first child, son Archie Harrison, in 2019 while they were still senior members of the royal family. In January 2020, they stepped back from their duties and later moved to Santa Barbara, California, where they had a daughter, Lilibet “Lili” Diana, in June 2021.
Prince Harry and Meghan retain their royal titles, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but they don’t use them in daily life or carry out work on behalf of the royal family. Instead, Harry and Meghan are focused on initiatives like their charitable work through the Archewell Foundation, with which they support access to education, women’s empowerment and fighting racial injustice.
While Harry and Meghan’s life at home with their kids in California is more relaxed than their previous routines as working royals, the Duke of Sussex has said that being parents of two is “definitely a juggle.”
Archie and Lili did not receive the titles of prince and princess when they were born because they were great-grandchildren of the monarch. Though Archie was entitled to the “courtesy title” of Earl of Dumbarton upon his birth, his parents chose not to give him a courtesy title at that time.
Meghan previously told Oprah Winfrey that she would have accepted a title for Archie at birth if it had offered him security and “meant he was going to be safe.”
“And it’s not our decision to make,” she said. “Even though I have a lot of clarity of what comes with the titles, good and bad … that is their birthright to then make a choice about.”
Once their grandfather King Charles became monarch, Archie and Lili were afforded the titles of prince and princess. The royal family’s official website was updated to reflect the children’s new titles of Prince Archie Harrison and Princess Lilibet Diana in March 2023.
Archie and Lili’s names were updated again in February 2024 when Harry and Meghan adopted Sussex as their family surname. Officially, their names are now Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.
In his memoir Spare, Harry wrote that he hopes that his children will have a meaningful relationship with the royal family.
“I’ve said before that I’ve wanted a family, not an institution — so of course, I would love nothing more than for our children to have relationships with members of my family, and they do with some, which brings me great joy,” Harry explained further to PEOPLE in January 2023.
A month later, Harry told Good Morning America how “grateful” he is to be a dad.
“The kids are growing up like all kids do … very, very fast. They’ve both got an incredible sense of humor and make us laugh and keep us grounded every single day,” he told the outlet.
From the arrival of their firstborn to their low-key family life in California, here’s everything to know about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s two kids.
Harry and Meghan’s first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor, now Prince Archie of Sussex, was born on May 6, 2019, in London, England. “He has the sweetest temperament,” Meghan shared of her son while introducing the newborn to the world shortly after his birth. “He’s really calm.”
Meghan later revealed that the couple almost named their son Harrison before deciding on Archie, a shortened version of the name Archibald, meaning genuine and bold or brave. They instead made Harrison his middle name, which originated in the Middle Ages as a patronymic meaning “son of Henry” or “son of Harry.”
Prince Archie of Sussex: All About Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Son
When he was only 4 months old, Archie joined his parents on a visit to South Africa, where he met anti-apartheid activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Meghan later shared that a fire broke out in the nursery where Archie was staying during the trip, and despite being “shaken” by the incident, the couple had to quickly leave their son for another scheduled engagement. Not long after the visit, Harry and Meghan announced their decision to step back from royal duties and split their time between the U.K. and North America.
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, holding their son Archie
Meghan Markle, Prince Harry and Archie in South Africa in September 2019. HENK KRUGER/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK
Harry reflected on how his decision to step back from his royal duties to focus on being a father was particularly meaningful to him in light of his own mother’s experience raising children in the spotlight.
“I have no doubt that my mom would be incredibly proud of me. I’m living the life that she wanted to live for herself, living the life that she wanted us to be able to live,” Harry said in his docuseries The Me You Can’t See, co-created with Winfrey. “So not only do I know that she’s incredibly proud of me, but that she’s helped me get here. And I’ve never felt her presence more as I have done over the last year.”
On the show, Harry also revealed that there’s a picture of Princess Diana hanging in Archie’s nursery, and that one of his first words was “grandma,” after “mama,” “papa” and “crocodile.”
Harry and Meghan are also emphasizing the importance of moral character with their son. “When I talk to my son Archie about what he wants to be when he grows up, some days it’s an astronaut, other days it’s a pilot — a helicopter pilot obviously,” he said at the opening of the 2022 Invictus Games, an international sporting event for wounded, injured and sick servicemembers and veterans.
“But what I remind him is that no matter what you want to be when you grow up, it’s your character that matters most, and nothing would make his mum and me prouder than to see him have the character of what we see before us today.”
Meghan echoed this sentiment during an interview with The Cut in August 2022. “We always tell him: ‘Manners make the man. Manners, manners, manners, manners, manners,’ ” she explained.
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Source: Los Angeles Times (edited)
