Why the Royals Publicly Ignored Princess Lilibet's 2nd Birthday

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle side by side with a photo of lilibet diana — (Image credit: Misan Harriman, Copyright owned by Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex ©2022/Getty Images)

Princess Lilibet of Sussex turned two years old (!!!) on June 4, and royal fans couldn't help but notice that she didn't get any public wishes from U.K.-based royals on social media.

Don't worry, though: This was not a spiteful move on the royals' part at all, just a question of policy, per one royal commentator.

"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," explained Hello!'s online royal correspondent Danielle Stacey.

"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."

OK, this totally makes sense, and was corroborated by a source who told Us Weekly that the royals "did not snub" little Lili with the move, adding, "There is no and has never been protocol for wishing happy birthdays to non working members of the Royal Family."

It still feels worth noting that the late Queen, then-Prince Charles and Camilla, and Prince William and Kate did express their best wishes to Lilibet on her birthday last year—so this year's radio silence is probably just a "slimmed-down monarchy" situation. Fair enough, I guess.

Let's also acknowledge that social media is just social media, and that Lili's grandpa King Charles didn't forget about her in real life—far from it. In fact, he reportedly "had his aides looking at custom-made cubby houses," and had Prince Harry warning him "to be less extravagant." So.

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.