When he was born a week overdue at an exclusive London hospital five years ago today, he was, according to his beaming father, ‘absolutely to die for’.
Prince Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor weighed 7lb 3oz and was born at 5.26am in a room adorned with electric candles and a picture of Princess Diana.
The first image, released two days later, showed him being introduced to his great-grandparents, the late Queen and Prince Philip, and his grandmother Doria Ragland.
Speaking from Windsor on the day of his son’s birth, Prince Harry said the birth of his son Archie was “the most amazing experience I could have ever imagined”. Because of the royal turmoil that has been caused. Meghan moved to California, meaning she would only spend the first five months of her life in the UK.
As the Duke has previously stated, the United States has come to feel like “home” to him.
Details of Archie’s golden life with his sister Lilibet, 2, were revealed in Prince Harry and Meghan’s Netflix documentary series last year.
He was seen chasing seagulls on the beach, helping his parents pick oranges in the garden, and playing with his two beloved family dogs, Pula the Labrador and Guy the Beagle. .
It has already been revealed that Archie is in kindergarten and will be in full-time education when he turns six. He is now five, so he could start kindergarten in the autumn.
When Meghan was in labour at the private Portland Hospital, Prince Harry revealed that he used nitrous oxide to calm his wife’s nerves, and that the couple’s bodyguards brought them takeaway Nandos.
During the handover, the couple also listened to Deva Premal, a German artist who turns Sanskrit mantras into music.
As the contractions got stronger, Meghan jumped into the bathtub to deliver the baby and received an epidural to ease the pain of labour.
Prince Harry says he held Meghan Markle’s hand as she was about to give birth to baby Archie, revealing she had a complicated birth and describing her son’s head as “in a tangle” did.
When Archie was born, his parents cried with joy. His first home was Frogmore Cottage near Windsor Castle.
In a clip from the Netflix series, he can be seen looking at his father from a baby bouncer, and in a photo, he can be seen looking at his nanny, Loren Khumalo, who wrapped him in yellow and brown cloth, a tradition in Zimbabwe. I could see what I was looking at.
Another emotional clip of the young royal shows Archie touching a photo of his late grandmother Princess Diana on the wall of his childhood bedroom at Frogmore Cottage.
Meghan could be heard saying “Who is that?” and “Grandma”
In October 2019, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan went on a six-week vacation to spend “family time” with their newborn baby. announced that he would take it.
They traveled to Canada and spent some time on Vancouver Island.
However, the following January, the pair announced that they would “step back as senior members of the royal family” and split their time between England and North America.
In March 2020, just before the pandemic forced much of the world into lockdown, the couple and their young son had moved to Los Angeles.
In July of that year, they moved into Montecito’s Santa Barbara home, which reportedly cost $14 million.
The home is close to their celebrity friend Oprah Winfrey, as well as other showbiz stars such as Ellen DeGeneres, Katy Perry and her husband Orlando Bloom.
Harry and Meghan’s 11-bed mansion sprawls over 20 acres of land, between the Santa Ynez mountains and the Pacific Ocean.
On June 4, 2021, the family welcomed Archie’s younger sister Lilibet, who will turn three in less than a month.
In an interview with The Cut magazine, Meghan told how Archie enjoyed pretending to be a doctor with a toy stethoscope and said one of his favourite things to eat is a quesadilla.
Other footage from the Netflix series shows the young royal showing off his musical talent, tinkling away on a tiny piano.
He is also seen calling a sunset ‘beautiful’ and watching a hummingbird with his father.
‘We won’t get a chance to be this close to hummingbirds ever again,’ Prince Harry told his son.
Despite asking his toddler to stay quiet and watch the wildlife, the toddler then exclaimed: ‘I’ve got a dirty foot mama because I was with you!’
When his great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022, Archie and Lilibet remained in California and were cared for by their maternal grandmother, Doria Ragland, and their nannies.
Prince Archie is not believed to have spent any birthdays with his British family.
Before Archie’s arrival, Meghan had a glitzy New York shower hosted by Serena Williams at The Mark, a plush uptown hotel.
Guests including Amal Clooney and Gayle King enjoyed a flower-arranging class.
The five-day celebration, which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, provoked criticism when it emerged that Meghan had flown to New York on a private jet.
