Archie Mountbatten-Windsor Turns 3: Royals Wish Him a Happy Birthday With Old Photos

Happy birthday, not-a-baby-anymore Archie! Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's first-born child turns three years old today, and while his home state of California hasn't started its day yet, British-based royals have already kicked off the festivities.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took to Instagram Stories and Twitter to write, "Wishing Archie a very happy 3rd Birthday today," alongside the official family portrait taken on the occasion of Archie's christening.

Also on Instagram Stories, Clarence House (that is, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles) shared a photo of the Prince of Wales alongside Prince Harry and baby Archie, with the simple caption, "Happy Birthday Archie!" and a red balloon emoji.

The Royal Family social media accounts, which post on behalf of the Queen's household, wrote, "Wishing Archie Mountbatten-Windsor a very happy 3rd Birthday!" alongside a photo of the Queen and Prince Philip meeting their great-grandson in 2019. Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and her mom Doria Ragland are also in the photo.

It's pretty significant that all three senior royal households chose to share old photos of Archie, rather than one of the snaps shared by the Sussexes since they moved to the U.S.

An obvious reason for this is that each royal wanted to share a photo in which they also appeared alongside Archie, and all of these were taken while the little boy was still in the U.K. But it's also possible to imagine that they didn't want to acknowledge the child's physical separation from them, since relations with the Sussexes are believed to have greatly suffered since they chose to step down from their royal duties and move to America.

Anyway, it's currently the middle of the night in Montecito, California, so I'll be waiting with bated breath to find out how the Sussexes will publicly acknowledge their son's birthday. Obviously, we're all hoping for a new photo (possibly including Lili???), so fingers crossed.

Last year, for Archie's second birthday, his parents shared the cutest picture of him via their website Archewell. They also marked the occasion by donating 200 beanies to kids in New Zealand. What will this year's birthday bring??