Today, June 4, a very special someone turns three—Princess Lilibet Diana, who was celebrated at a party this past weekend at the Montecito, California home she shares with parents Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and big brother Prince Archie. “Among the guests were close friends and family, as well as some of Lili’s friends,” People reports.
Lili is celebrated in a still from Harry and Meghan's six-part eponymous Netflix docuseries.
Though Archie and Lili have been kept out of the public eye for the most part—a very intentional effort by their parents, Harry and Meghan—Meghan did reveal that her kids were “very chatty” and “sweet” during her trip to Nigeria last month alongside Harry. Though Lili was born Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, after Harry and Meghan opted to use Archie and Lili’s “Prince” and “Princess” titles, respectively, their surname is now understood to be Sussex, People reports, in line with their parents’ Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles.
“Lilibet” was the familial nickname of the late Queen Elizabeth, and Diana, of course, “was chosen to honor her beloved late grandmother, the Princess of Wales,” Harry and Meghan said in a statement at the time of Lili’s birth in 2021. The birth announcement also referred to the then-newborn as Lili, “a nickname that Prince Harry and Meghan have continued to call their daughter,” People writes.
The Sussex family's 2021 holiday card was the public's first glimpse at Lili, who was about six months old at the time.
The world caught its first glimpse of baby Lili in the Sussex holiday card from 2021; she was seen again at the occasion of her first birthday in June 2022, which she celebrated in the U.K. as her great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, celebrated her Platinum Jubilee. Harry and Meghan threw a gathering for Lili at Frogmore Cottage, which they used as their U.K. home until last year. A portrait taken by photographer and friend Misan Harriman was released for the occasion of Lili’s first birthday, taken at her birthday party that a spokesperson described as a “casual, intimate backyard picnic.”
Lili was seen again in short snippets during the Harry & Meghan docuseries on Netflix, which dropped in six parts during the month of December 2022.
Mother and daughter in a still from the docuseries, released in December 2022.
Over her three years of life, her parents have shared details about her, including her “very chilled” nature and her determination to “keep up” with her older brother. While in Nigeria, Meghan revealed that “singing and dancing” was Lili’s “favorite class,” probably because of “all the jumping around”; she also shared a sweet anecdote about her daughter, who Meghan said is “about to turn three. And a few weeks ago, she looked at me, and she would just see the reflection in my eyes. And she said, ‘Mama, I see me in you.’”
The couple opened up about their kids while visiting Nigeria last month.
Lili was christened at home in March 2023 by the Archbishop of Los Angeles, an occasion that was unfortunately skipped by members of the royal family. (No royals were reported to be at her third birthday party this past weekend, either.) As Lili (and Archie) continues to grow up outside of the spotlight, Meghan said in the six-part Harry & Meghan docuseries that she and Harry have “been really conscious of protecting our kids as best we can, and also understanding the role that they play in this really historic family.”
Happy third birthday, Princess Lilibet!
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