Harry’s ‘persistent request late Queen turned down in just two words’

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be celebrating their daughter Princess Lilibet’s third birthday today.

And her celebrations will probably look a lot different to her first birthday two years ago when she celebrated in the UK. Her birthday coincided with the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations and she along with big brother Prince Archie and their parents came to Britain for the event.

During the trip, the Queen got to meet her 11th great-grandchild and namesake Lilibet for the first time and was reunited with Archie after not seeing him for years. It was at this meeting that both Harry and Meghan were thought to be keen to get an official snap of great-grandmother and great-grandchild.

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But according to The Sun, the Sussexes were told “no chance” when they asked the monarch’s permission. Meanwhile, writing in The Telegraph, royal expert Camilla Tominey claims Harry was “persistent” in wanting a photo to be taken. She says: “When the couple made another beeline for Windsor Castle, travelling straight there after landing at Farnborough Airport, she refused their request to have professional photographs taken with Archie, three, and her namesake Lilibet, one.

“Claiming she had a bloodshot eye, she adroitly denied the Sussexes the photo opportunity they craved. Harry was ‘persistent’, according to those party to the meeting, expressing a desire to get an official snap of the two Lilibets together at some point in the future. But of course, it was never to be. She died three months later.”

Lilibet as well as Archie are both growing up in California out of the spotlight – for the most part. Fans of Harry and Meghan don’t get much insight into what life is like in California for the two young royal children, but every so the Sussexes will let a sweet detail about their kids slip out as they go about their public work.

When Meghan and Harry recently travelled to Nigeria to strengthen international ties in the Invictus Games community, they went without their two children, but while they were visiting Meghan revealed a sweet detail about what Lilibet’s childhood is like behind closed doors.

Meghan revealed the rare insight during a visit to the Lightway Academy in Abuja, which has been given some funding by the Sussexes’ Archewell Foundation. The couple chatted with pupils from the Academy’s Kindergarten class, who performed a song and dance for the visiting royals.

“Is singing and dancing your favourite class?” Harry asked the children, with Meghan adding: “That’s Lili’s favourite class, maybe it’s all the jumping around.” Later she also revealed that one of Archie’s current interests is construction, after learning about some of the pupil’s interests in electronics.

Lilibet was born on June 4, 2021, at the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California. A statement said at the time: “Lili is named after her great-grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen, whose family nickname is Lilibet. Her middle name, Diana, was chosen to honour her beloved late grandmother, The Princess of Wales.”

She was christened at Harry and Meghan’s home in March 2023 by the Archbishop of Los Angeles, the Rev John Taylor. Among those at the intimate gathering were said to be Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland, Lilibet’s godfather Tyler Perry and an unnamed godmother – although none of her royal relatives were at the service.

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