Did Prince Harry Pass Down His Signature Red Hair to Baby Archie?

While the world waits for the next glimpse of Baby Sussex, speculation about the infant abounds. However, at least one mystery about the smallest Sussex may be solved. Per a photo colorist expert for the Daily Star, Archie has Meghan Markle’s hair color, not Prince Harry’s. While the Duke of Sussex’s “ginger” hair is one of his defining trademarks, there’s a logical reason why the trait probably wasn’t passed on to baby Archie.

If you’ll recall, Meghan and Harry shared a sweet photo of Archie last month in honor of Harry’s first Father’s Day — and, in that Instagram, the peach fuzz on top of baby Sussex’s head was visible. Armed with that snapshot, the U.K.’s Daily Star reached out to one of the country’s leading photo colorist experts for insight on baby Archie’s potential hair color. “As with any black and white photograph, we can infer some of the details with additional information and look at tonal values to make an educated guess. Obviously I can’t see the future, and genetics for hair color is a complex subject, so this is just an opinion,” said Jordan Lloyd of Dynamichrome, before revealing, “I’d guess it will be brown, but only time will tell.”

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According to Lloyd, his guess comes from a combination of the hair’s characteristics, along with the mechanics of genes. “Looking at this photograph, we can see that Archie’s hair is very fair, and hair in babies tends to go lighter or darker for the first three years before going the other way,” he said. “If I was to make a guess, we’re looking at a light blonde now that may get darker with age, but given the Duchess’s mixed heritage, it is fairly unlikely that Archie’s hair will be ginger like Prince Harry’s as ginger hair is a recessive gene.”

If Harry’s recessive red hair does present — which is still within the realm of possibility — it may fuel long-standing (and, TBH, laughable) rumors about Harry’s real father being former British Army captain James Hewitt. This speculation, for the record, is largely based on a superficial resemblance rooted in the men’s red hair.

However, it merits mentioning that Princess Diana fondly referred to Harry as “my little Spencer,” a nod to the red hair prevalent on the Spencer side of the family. In fact, Harry often draws comparisons to Diana’s older sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, who has the same orangey-red hair that Harry is famous for. So, who knows? The odds might be stacked in favor of baby Archie having dark hair like his mom, but he could be the next “little Spencer” in the family tree, too.