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Every year, members of the royal family take to their official social media accounts and wish each other a happy birthday. But this year, we couldn’t help but notice something…well, different. Prominent members of the House of Windsor did not publicly commemorate Prince Harry‘s birthday. Before everyone starts spiraling, there’s a reason for this change, and it has everything to do with new leadership.
First, let’s provide a little bit of context. Yesterday, Sept. 15, marked the Duke of Sussex’s 39th birthday. In the past, the official Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) accounts of the royal family — Kensington Palace, the official Royal Family account, and so on — would share a photo and shout-out to Prince Harry for his special day. This time around, however, that didn’t happen. That’s because only working members of the royal family receive birthday tributes, now that King Charles III has ascended the throne, per People.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are making waves in Germany at the Invictus Games, but not everyone is happy about it. https://t.co/HLJr878s6z
— SheKnows (@SheKnows) September 14, 2023
“After King Charles acceded to the throne last year, birthday tributes on social media have been reserved for working members of the royal family and some of their children,” the outlet reports. As we all know, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, made the decision to take a step back as senior working members of the royal family in early 2020. Since then, the couple has made their pursuits independent of the royal family their focus, save for a few charities they still support in the United Kingdom like WellChild, for which Harry recently attended the awards celebration.
This year, Harry commemorated his birthday at the Invictus Games, his longtime passion project. But it’s still a bit jarring for the royal family to not give Meghan or Harry a public shout-out for their respective birthdays. In years past, the two have received some love via the Instagram Stories of prominent accounts. Circumstances, however, have clearly changed.
Spare by Prince Harry
A common phrase with the British Royal Family is that you want “an heir, and a spare,” meaning you have secured the bloodline with an heir — and just in case something happens to the heir, you have a spare. And that’s exactly what Prince Harry was known as his entire time with the British Royal Family. After years of waiting, people are finally going to get to know an even closer, more vulnerable look at Prince Harry and his struggles. From losing his mother Princess Diana so suddenly and tragically, to how his life would play out afterward, Harry is baring it all for his memoir Spare.
Before you go, click here to see more of Meghan Markle & Prince Harry’s milestones since leaving the royal family.
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