The Prince and Princess of Wales paid a visit to Madley Primary School's Forest School and engaged with a local mental health charity on Thursday. However, the photographs from their visit were shared on the Royal Family's official social media accounts on Friday, September 15th. This coincided with Prince Harry's 39th birthday, which he was celebrating in Germany with his wife, Meghan Markle.
The images of Kate and William with the schoolchildren were captioned, "In Hereford, The Prince and Princess of Wales have visited the Madley Primary School's Forest School and met with a local mental health charity, Farming Minds, both partners of the Duchy of Cornwall."
While Prince Harry marked his special day, royal enthusiasts began to wonder if the royal family would acknowledge it. In 2020 and 2021, the royal family had recognized Harry's birthday on their official social media page, formerly known as Twitter. Not only did the Duke receive greetings from the Joint Firm's account, but he also received personal well-wishes online from Prince Charles and Camilla, as well as Prince William and Kate.
However, this year, there were no birthday wishes from the royal family. Allegedly, this omission stemmed from unresolved tensions between them and the Sussexes. Jenny Bond, the former Royal correspondent for the BBC, suggested that Prince William harbored no intentions of reconciling their feud and had chosen to ignore Harry on his birthday. She believed that Prince William had been deeply hurt by his brother's claims, making it unlikely that he would publicly or privately extend birthday wishes.
Notably, Prince William was not the only family member who refrained from acknowledging Prince Harry's special day. King Charles, Prince Harry's own father, did not publicly wish his son a happy birthday either. On his birthday, King Charles was seen visiting an anti-poverty charity in Perthshire but made no comments acknowledging the occasion, despite having paid tribute to the Duke of Sussex in the past. The royal family, as a whole, refrained from sharing birthday wishes with Prince Harry this year.
In times past, Prince Harry's birthday would be announced in the court circular, accompanied by bell tolls and gun salutes. However, such traditions have ceased. On this occasion, Prince Harry's birthday was placed below several other listings, including a model, a comedian, the Queen of Spain, and a star of "Mrs. Brown's Boys," among others. However, he did manage to rank above Piers Morgan's father-in-law, offering some consolation.
Notably, his profession was not listed, much like during a Miami football game. His designations as a philanthropist, founder of the Invictus Games, or his involvement with Archewell were notably absent.
Currently, Meghan and Harry are in Dusseldorf, Germany, attending this year's Invictus Games. On the previous day, Prince Harry enjoyed various sports activities, including cycling, archery, table tennis, and sitting volleyball. The games commenced at 7:30 a.m. local time. This global sporting event holds a special place in Prince Harry's heart as he founded it back in 2014 and produced the "Heart of Invictus" documentary with Netflix, highlighting the experiences of ex-military personnel who participated in last year's games.
