Happy birthday, ARCHIE!

Jennie Bond takes a look back at the two eventful years of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s son’s life…

- Jennie Bond

With his second birthday just around the corner, young Archie Mountbatten Windsor is unlikely to remember much about the roller coaster of a life he and his parents have led since he was born. And that’s probably just as well.

They’ve already moved house at least four times and been engulfed in a bitter feud with his royal relations. Archie is now growing up thousands of miles away from his paternal grandfather, his cousins and his great-grandmother. Though close to her mother, Doria, the Duchess of Sussex is estranged from her father and sister, leaving Archie without the normal interaction with relatives that most toddlers enjoy.

Hopefully, the little boy has been shielded from the anger and sadness his parents have felt over all that’s happened. I’m sure he’s being brought up in the bubble of love we all feel for our children.

The Duke of Sussex has talked about how he relishes the freedom to take Archie down to the beach near their Californian mansion or go for hikes as a family. He loves to put his son in a baby seat on the back of his bike and cycle around in the sunshine – something he was never able to enjoy as a child, he says.