Meghan Markle marked Princess Lilibet’s 5th birthday on June 4 with two previously unseen photos on Instagram—one with Prince Harry holding Lilibet, another showing her barefoot in the gardens at the couple’s Montecito home—while the post arrives amid fresh ba
On June 4, Meghan Markle posted two previously unseen photos of Princess Lilibet on Instagram to mark the girl’s 5th birthday—and for once, the internet got a rare window into their family life.
In the first photo, Lilibet is held in the arms of her father, Prince Harry, with Meghan fawning over them. The second image shows Lilibet strolling barefoot through the gardens and caressing purple flowers. seemingly at the couple’s Montecito residence. In both pictures, Lilibet is wearing an embroidered sundress and her long red hair is left loose, covering her face.
Meghan captioned the post, “Our dream girl. Happy 5th birthday, Lili.”
The timing lands in the middle of a busy family milestone stretch. Prince Harry and Meghan welcomed Lilibet in 2021, two years after welcoming Archie in 2019. Just a month earlier, the couple celebrated Archie’s 7th birthday. Meghan shared a post featuring a photo of an infant Archie resting on Harry’s chest. along with a recent picture of Archie and Lilibet. writing. “7 years later…happy birthday to our sweet boy.”.
Last month, Meghan and Harry also took their children on a trip to Disneyland for a joint birthday celebration, posting various photos from the outing while keeping their kids’ faces hidden.
Still, the new Lilibet birthday glimpse didn’t arrive in a vacuum. Meghan recently faced severe backlash over a photo of Lilibet helping her get dressed inside a closet. Meghan captioned that earlier post, “Mama’s little helper.”
The criticism sharpened because it followed a Geneva conference appearance—where Meghan spoke about social media being a threat to children—so some observers accused her of hypocrisy. One person tweeted. “She’s quite happy to serve her own kids up on social media to complete strangers for commercial purposes without their consent. Meghan Markle is not interested in kids safety, she uses them as props for publicity & money.”.
Another X user wrote, “Meghan using her children on social media and commercialising them (well, just Betty because she clearly has forgotten about Archie) all while pretending to be an advocate for children’s online safety. Douchess Hypocrite!”
At the time, an insider defended Meghan in a statement to Page Six. The insider said Meghan’s speech at the Geneva conference addressed how exposure to dangerous content online can affect children. “which is far from Meghan’s ‘own positive content.’” They added: “Many mothers share content of their children in a proud and positive manner — Meghan does it tastefully and without showing their faces. just as many other well-known people do.”.
The sequence is hard to miss: Meghan posts family photos, then speaks publicly about the risks of online exposure, and critics point to the contrast between her message and her Instagram activity—even as supporters argue she shares content “tastefully” and without showing faces.
Meghan Markle Prince Harry Lilibet Princess Lilibet 5th birthday Instagram Montecito Archie Disneyland Geneva conference social media backlash
Why does she keep posting the kids like it’s a brand though?
Barefoot in the garden sounds cute but also… she had to do it in the middle of the backlash? Like pick a lane lol. Maybe it’s just her trying to calm people down with pretty flowers.
Wait so Lilibet is 5 but Archie is 7 right? That math is kinda weird because didn’t they say 6? Unless I’m mixing up dates. Anyway the closet pic was super creepy vibes to me, but this one looks more normal so I’ll give her that.
The internet got a window into their family life… yeah until it’s more PR. Also Meghan talking about social media being a threat while she’s posting twice new pics? make it make sense. And keeping faces hidden at Disneyland is like, okay so which one is it, privacy or attention? I dunno, just seems like they’re always trying to control the narrative.