Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImageBy KATIE KINDELAN, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, the only child of Prince Harry and Meghan, is 1.
Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, celebrated their son’s first birthday on Wednesday by releasing a new video of Archie, who was born in London on May 6, 2019.
In the video, Meghan is reading the children’s book Duck! Rabbit! to Archie, who sits on her lap. Prince Harry is behind the camera recording his wife and son read the book together.
The video was shared through #SAVEWITHSTORIES, an initiative launched by Jennifer Garner and Amy Adams with Save the Children and No Kid Hungry in which celebrities read stories on social media to fundraise for children in both the U.S. and U.K. without access to meals at school during the COVID-19 crisis.
“As they celebrate this family moment, the Duke and Duchess wanted to continue to raise awareness around the urgency of bringing food and learning resources to millions of children,” said a spokesperson for the Sussexes. “The Duchess chose to read one of Archie’s favorite stories, Duck! Rabbit!“
Archie also received birthday wishes on social media from his royal relatives, including Prince William and Kate, Prince Charles and Camilla and Queen Elizabeth II.
Wishing Archie a very happy first birthday today! 🎈 pic.twitter.com/dEjvnSjGGM
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) May 6, 2020
A very Happy Birthday to Archie, who turns one today. 🎈
This photo of Archie and his grandfather was taken following his christening in July 2019.
📸 Chris Allerton ©️ Sussex Royal pic.twitter.com/AYxqkRxE1d
— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) May 6, 2020
Happy Birthday to Archie Mountbatten-Windsor who is celebrating his 1st birthday today! 🎈
Archie is The Queen’s eighth great-grandchild. pic.twitter.com/PMaiY6NR1a
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) May 6, 2020
From London to Los Angeles: Look back at Archie’s first year
Archie, the seventh in line to the British throne, has already traveled the world and met world leaders — his great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II and Desmond Tutu — in just his first year of life.
He was born at London’s Portland Hospital and brought home to his family’s Frogmore Cottage home, where Prince Harry proudly announced his son’s birth.
“As every father and parent would ever say, you know, your baby is absolutely amazing,” Harry said to reporters. “But this little thing is absolutely to die for, so I’m just over the moon.”
Just two days later, Harry and Meghan debuted their son to the world at Windsor Castle.
The proud parents also shared a photo of their son meeting his great-grandparents Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, also at Windsor Castle.
Just one week after Archie’s birth, Meghan celebrated her first Mother’s Day and shared a photo of her hand cradling her newborn son’s feet.
The world got its first up-close look at Archie just a few weeks after his birth, when Harry and Meghan shared a photo of their son to mark Harry’s first Father’s Day.
In July, Archie was christened in a private ceremony at the Queen’s private chapel at Windsor Castle. There to witness the christening were Archie’s godparents and family members, including his uncle and aunt, Prince William and Kate; Archie’s grandfather Prince Charles, and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall; Archie’s maternal grandmother, Doria Ragland; and the two sisters of Archie’s late paternal grandmother, Princess Diana.
Later in July, Archie was photographed for the first time publicly with his cousins, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, the young children of Prince William and Kate. The two families turned out in force to watch William and Harry compete in a charity polo match in the U.K.
Duchess Meghan soon returned to work in the public eye after maternity leave and, in September, Meghan, Harry and Archie took their first official royal trip overseas as a family of three. The trio visited South Africa, where Archie was introduced to Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
A few weeks after returning from South Africa, Archie departed London with his parents for an extended holiday vacation in Vancouver Island, off the coast of Canada.
Over Christmas, Archie made his debut in the Sussexes’ first Christmas card as a family of three, crawling in front of his parents.
Near the end of their holiday stay in Canada, Harry and Meghan shared a photo of Archie posing with his dad in front of the Canadian landscape as part of a look back at 2019.
At the start of 2020, Harry and Meghan announced that they planned to step back from their royal duties and live in both the U.K. and North America in order to raise Archie “with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter.”
The Sussexes officially stepped down as senior members of the royal on April 1 and have settled in Los Angeles, where Meghan was born and raised.
Archie, like Harry and Meghan, remains a member of the royal family but will likely have a very different upbringing than that of his dad, uncle and cousins, who are growing up as royals in the U.K.
The 1-year-old is already providing inspiration for his parents’ first venture as non-working members of the royal family, a new nonprofit venture they plan to call Archewell.
“Before SussexRoyal, came the idea of ‘Arche’ — the Greek word meaning ‘source of action,'” Harry and Meghan said in a statement to ABC News last month about the nonprofit’s name. “We connected to this concept for the charitable organisation we hoped to build one day, and it became the inspiration for our son’s name.”
“To do something of meaning, to do something that matters,” they said. “Archewell is a name that combines an ancient word for strength and action, and another that evokes the deep resources we each must draw upon.”
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