Will Lilibet Diana Spend Her First Birthday Tomorrow with Her Namesake, the Queen?

Queen Elizabeth Meghan Markle Prince Harry

(Image credit: Max Mumby / Indigo / Getty Images)

published 3 June 2022

So many celebrations! In addition to four days’ worth of festivities honoring the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, tomorrow at Frogmore Cottage the Sussexes will celebrate Lilibet Diana’s first birthday—and Her Majesty, Lili’s namesake, will likely be in attendance. (Lilibet is the familial nickname of the Queen.)

According to Tatler, the Queen is set to miss the Derby at Epsom Downs in favor of Lili’s party, as the outlet writes “The Queen, however, will reportedly instead attend a birthday party for Harry and Meghan’s daughter, Lilibet, who turns one on 4 June, at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor,” just half a mile from the Queen’s home at Windsor Castle.

According to Sussex biographer Omid Scobie, the Queen reportedly met her namesake face-to-face last night, following a private family lunch at Buckingham Palace after Trooping the Colour. (This is the first time Lili has traveled to her father’s home country of the U.K. since her birth in California last year.)

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“I think people are expecting some sort of big birthday extravagant event, that we’re going to see photographs from,” he told BBC Breakfast, per The Mirror. “From what I’m told, we shouldn’t expect anything. Those moments with Lilibet are very much private between them and the Queen and, of course, we know how much she’s been looking forward to it. Of course, we know the Queen went back to Windsor Castle yesterday. The couple went back to Windsor as well, where they’re staying at Frogmore Cottage. So that would have been the first moment or the first chance for her to meet her namesake.”

While nothing is confirmed, all signs seem to point to yes for the Queen being present to celebrate her great-granddaughter. Speaking on yesterday’s episode of “Pod Save the Queen,” via The Daily Express, host Zoe Forsey said “Saturday is the horses, but we don’t think that she [the Queen] is going to go now because there is talk of Lilibet’s first birthday party.”

However, we do know for sure that, because of scheduling conflicts, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will miss out on Lili’s party, as they will be in Wales tomorrow as part of the ongoing Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.