Princess Lilibet Diana turned two years old on Sunday. Her mom and dad were with her for her birthday, although her dad had to catch a flight to London at some point on Sunday. In any case, Lili spent her birthday at home in Montecito and we have no idea if anyone from Prince Harry’s family called or sent a birthday gift or anything. Given how consistently the Windsors leak sh-t to benefit themselves, I tend to believe that if a call was placed or gifts were sent, we would have found out about it. Instead, the Windsors are, as always, more than happy to take a public position of “snubbing a baby.” They did that when Lili was born, when it took more than seven weeks to add Lili’s name to the line of succession list. They did it again when it came to Archie and Lili’s titles following QEII’s death too, when the Letters Patent kicked in and they were automatically given titles as grandchildren of the monarch. Then it took months to update their titles to the line of succession. And don’t forget how the Windsors all snubbed Lili’s christening. All of which to say, the Windsors once again made a point of snubbing a baby… on her birthday.
Buckingham Palace insists that the king was not snubbling his granddaughter, Princess Lilibet, this weekend when official social media channels ignored her second birthday. Some reports characterized the omission as a deliberate snub, but a palace source said it had “never been protocol” to share formal birthday wishes for non-working members of the royal family or their children on “official channels.” It must be noted, however, that the birthdays of Lilibet and Archie were celebrated last year by royal social media accounts.
The source said that birthday wishes to the second child of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may have been shared privately.
The royal pushback came after the young Princess’ birthday assumed unusual constitutional significance after Prince Harry missed the first day of his scheduled court appearance in London because he was delayed by the celebrations. The irritated judge said he was “surprised” Harry had flouted his order to show up in London’s High Court Monday after his barrister cited Lilibet’s birthday party as a cause of his no-show.
Despite the palace’s denials that the lack of a birthday tweet or Insta post has any personal dimension, the omission is likely to further fuel speculation as to the extent of the fracturing of the relationship between the royal family and the Sussexes in the wake of Harry’s memoir, Spare. Protocol can change, of course, but the fact is that last year, when the queen was still alive, Lilibet and her brother Archie both received birthday wishes from official royal social media accounts.
The king’s various accounts have continued marking the birthdays of William and Kate’s children, and last year, the official Twitter accounts for the Prince and Princess of Wales also wished Lilibet a happy first birthday. Her brother Archie’s birthday went unremarked by the palace this year, however given it occurred on the same day as the coronation, the omission drew less attention.
Yeah, I noticed that the royal accounts didn’t do say anything on Sunday, but then again, I wasn’t expecting them to. It surprised me last year when the Kensington Royal and Royal Family accounts did tweets for Lili’s first birthday, which of course was celebrated in the UK during the Jubbly. I wouldn’t expect Kensington Royal to say anything, given William’s incandescent rage and overwhelmingly childishness. But the Buckingham Palace-operated account? That’s the king’s granddaughter – it’s simply good form to just say “of course the king wishes his granddaughter a happy birthday.” But no, they’re incapable of that.
Sidenote: I absolutely believe that the Windsors are pissed that they don’t have photos of Archie and Lilibet to post on social media as well. They couldn’t even use the Misan Harriman photos last year on their social media accounts because the Sussexes only released those photos after Lili’s birthday and after they got the hell out of the UK. The Windsors are seething that they can’t exploit these two lovely ginger kids, including Princess Diana’s only blue-eyed grandchild.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Misan Harriman/The Sussexes.
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- Britain’s Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II from foreground are seated at the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in London, Monday, March 11, 2019. Commonwealth Day has a special significance this year, as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth – a global network of 53 countries and almost 2.4 billion people, a third of the world’s population, of whom 60 percent are under 30 years old.,Image: 531581572, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon [email protected] London 44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles 1 310 822 0419 Berlin 49 30 76 212 251 Madrid 34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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09-03-2020
Commonwealth Day Celebrations
Westminster Abbey 2020
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- MANDATORY CREDIT: Chris Allerton – copyright SussexRoyal NEWS EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO COMMERCIAL USE. NO MERCHANDISING, ADVERTISING, SOUVENIRS, MEMORABILIA or COLOURABLY SIMILAR. NOT FOR USE AFTER FRIDAY JUNE 7, 2019, WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM ROYAL COMMUNICATIONS AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE. This photograph is provided to you strictly on condition that these conditions and restrictions will apply (and that you will pass these on) to any organisation to whom you supply it. There shall be no commercial use whatsoever of the photographs (including by way of example only) any use in merchandising, advertising or any other non-news editorial use. The photograph must not be digitally enhanced, manipulated or modified in any manner or form and must include all of the individuals in the photograph when published. All other requests for use should be directed to the Buckingham Palace Press Office in writing. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are joined by her mother, Doria Ragland, as they show their new son, born Monday and named as Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, to the Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle.
