Why the Royal Family snubbed Princess Lilibet on her birthday

Princess Lilibet celebrated her second birthday on Sunday, June 4, and while Prince Harry and Meghan Markle no doubt spent the day celebrating the special occasion, the day was not acknowledged by any members of the Royal Family.

In previous years the social media accounts of prominent royals such as King Charles and the Prince and Princess of Wales would light up with well wishes for a royal birthday, however, this year members of The Firm let the day pass by with no fanfare.

As speculation mounts as to why the Royal Family remained silent, HELLO!’s Royal Correspondent Danielle Stacey has shed some light on why there were no birthday wishes for little Lilibet from Buckingham Palace.

“In recent years and certainly since King Charles III’s reign began in September 2022, we have only seen public messages from the royal family’s social media accounts for working members of the royal family, such as the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Princess Royal,” she explained.

“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back as senior royals in 2020, and no longer carry out royal duties. Similarly, the palace doesn’t typically share messages on the likes of Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie and Zara Tindall’s birthdays nor their children’s special days.”

Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have been mostly estranged from the Royal Family since stepping down from royal duties in 2020.

Since then Harry has been outspoken about his royal life several times, taking more than a few public swipes at the royal family which certainly hasn’t helped ease tensions.

During an infamous interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, Harry described royal life as a “mixture between The Truman Show and being in a zoo” and opened up about King Charles’ parenting style.

“I don’t think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly when it comes to parenting, if I’ve experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I’m going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on,” he said.

Adding fuel to the fire and putting further strain on his relationship with his family, Harry most recently released a tell-all memoir and took part in a series of “revealing and explosive” interviews in which he levelled several attacks at members of the Royal Family.

We are excited to announce the remarkably personal and emotionally powerful story of Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex.

SPARE, the highly anticipated #PrinceHarryMemoir, will be published on January 10, 2023. Learn more at https://t.co/L0I4CT4flH pic.twitter.com/iqdBjBwkWE

— Random House Group (@randomhouse) October 27, 2022

During an interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby Harry revealed that the ongoing feud with The Firm “never needed to be this way”.

“The leaking, the planting, I want a family – not an institution,” he said.

“They feel as though it’s better to keep us, somehow, as the villains. They’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile.

“I would like to get my father back. I would like to have my brother back.”

Prince Harry also appeared on 60 Minutes for an interview with CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper, where he made it abundantly clear that he has no intention of returning to his royal life.