What We Know About Prince Archie’s Birthday Party in California—The Same Day as the Coronation

It looks to be a small get-together, with potentially some famous faces.

Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Prince Archie
(Image credit: Getty)
Rachel Burchfield
By Rachel Burchfield
published

There will be a major global event happening on May 6 at Westminster Abbey in London—but a celebration of a different kind will be taking place that same day in Montecito, California, and The Mirror reports that it could even upstage the Coronation of King Charles across the pond.

Harry will attend his father’s Coronation, while Meghan will stay behind in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Archie coincidentally celebrates his fourth birthday that same Saturday, and reports have indicated that, because of the massive time difference between London and Montecito, Harry might try to make both the Coronation and Archie’s birthday party work with his schedule.

The Mirror reports that Archie’s party will be “intimate,” and royal columnist Lee Cohen told The Daily Express that Harry and Meghan could possibly overshadow Charles’ Coronation by releasing a birthday announcement hours before the ceremony. (From this writer’s perspective, I think the Sussexes will be respectful of the historic event, but…) It is traditional for members of the royal family to release photos on a family member’s birthday—and, The Mirror reports, the Sussexes have done this on every previous occasion for Archie.

“It’s terribly petty, but the Sussexes, who no longer have their royal platform, seem to relish any opportunity to attempt to upstage a royal occasion,” Cohen said. “It’s not as if the royal family seek occasions to upstage the antics of the Sussexes. Quite the opposite.”

The close-knit party, according to a source close to the family, will include Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland, along with Archie’s friends from preschool and some celebrity friends of Harry and Meghan’s. Names dropped by the source include Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams, and Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi. And hopefully Harry himself, as “Harry’s going to make every effort to get back in time for Archie’s birthday,” an insider told Page Six. 

Rachel Burchfield
Rachel Burchfield
Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor

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. 

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