LONDON - Britain's royals sent birthday messages to Archie, the son of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan who unwittingly became the centre of one of the family's biggest crisis in decades earlier this year, as the youngster turned two on Thursday.
Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, the seventh-in-line to the British throne, was born at London’s Portland Hospital in May 2019 and now lives with his parents in Los Angeles after they left Britain and stepped away from their royal duties last year.
"Wishing Archie Mountbatten-Windsor a very happy 2nd birthday today," said a message posted on Queen Elizabeth's Twitter account, with similar good wishes following from Archie's grandfather, heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, and his uncle and aunt, Prince William and wife Kate.
Archie became a focal point of the deterioration in the relationship between Harry, the 95-year-old monarch's grandson, and the rest of the family after they quit their royal roles.
During an interview with Oprah Winfrey in March, Meghan, 39, whose mother is Black and father is white, said one unnamed royal had asked how dark Archie’s skin might be before he was born.
The allegation prompted William to deny that the Windsors were racist, while the queen put out a statement saying the issues raised on race were concerning but that "some recollections may vary".
In happier news, Meghan, who is pregnant with the couple's second child, said on Tuesday that Archie and Harry were the inspiration for a new children's book she wrote that will be published next month.
"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," Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, said in a statement.