The Prince and Princess of Wales had 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. Coincidentally, this overlapped with Prince Harry's 39th birthday, which he was celebrating in Germany with his wife, Meghan Markle.
The images of Prince William and Catherine with the school children were captioned, "In Harford, 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 whether 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. The Duke not only received greetings from The Joint Firm's account but 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 the Sussexes and the rest of the royal family. Jenny Bond, the former Royal correspondent for the BBC, suggested that Prince William had no intention of reconciling their feud and had chosen to ignore Harry on his birthday. It was 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 the past, Prince Harry's birthday would have been 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 listed below several other notable events, including a model, a comedian, the Queen of Spain, and a star of "Mrs. Brown's Boys," among others. Nonetheless, he did manage to rank above Piers Morgan's father-in-law, offering some consolation.
Notably, his professional titles, such as philanthropist, founder of the Invictus Games, and his involvement with ARU, were conspicuously absent. Currently, Meghan and Harry are in Dusseldorf, Germany, attending this year's Invictus Games. On the preceding 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, which highlighted the experiences of ex-military personnel who participated in last year's games.
