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Meghan Markle's 42nd birthday passed unacknowledged by the royal family's social media accounts on Friday, a public display that lays bare the "bitter rift" between the two camps, a royal commentator has told Newsweek.
Meghan marked her 42nd birthday on August 4, having celebrated with a dinner at a trendy Montecito restaurant the evening before with Prince Harry. This year marked the duchess' first birthday since she and Harry made a number of public bombshell revelations against the royals in their eponymous Netflix show and Harry's 410-page memoir.
Most explicitly, Harry confirmed years of tabloid speculation about the widening rift between himself and his wife in California, and the royals, headed by King Charles and Prince William, in Britain.
Eyes turned to the official royal family and Prince and Princess of Wales social media accounts on Friday to see if the royals would make posts recognizing Meghan's birthday, as they had done in 2021 and 2022, after the duchess' controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey.
"When Meghan turned 40 Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and the Cambridges [William and Kate] sent birthday wishes," royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told Newsweek.
"When she turned 41, the queen did not, but the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall and William and Catherine did. This year they ignored her birthday which has been represented in the press as a snub."
Queen Elizabeth's decision not to issue birthday wishes to Meghan on the royal family social media account in 2022 was part of a new protocol, which limits those who receive public birthday acknowledgments to only working members of the royal family (those who undertake duties on behalf of the monarch).
Newsweek understands that this protocol is being upheld now that King Charles III has taken the throne.
Fitzwilliams noted that though the so protocol could be seen as the official excuse for this perceived snub: "In reality, it lays bare the bitter rift in the royal family."
"Harry's memoir Spare and the interviews he gave to promote it, have been extremely damaging to it," he said. "So have the Sussexes previous interviews, especially that with Oprah."
"The institution cannot rebut their accusations point by point, as well they know. However, they can place an obvious distance between them, which is precisely what they have done. This makes perfect sense."
Following the release of the Sussexes' Netflix and memoir projects the royal family adopted a blanket "no comment" position, with there being only one major event since then that signaled potential for a reunion—King Charles and Queen Camilla's coronation on May 6.
Speculation mounted as the date for the historic ceremony drew near, with British bookmakers offering favorable odds on the couple being present at Westminster Abbey on the day.
Buckingham Palace put an end to the speculation less than a month before the king was crowned announcing that while Harry would make the journey to Britain for the ceremony, Meghan would not.
"Buckingham Palace is pleased to confirm that The Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on 6th May," it said. "The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet."
No reason was given by the palace for Meghan's absence, and no further elaboration was given by the duchess' team.
Of the reaction to Meghan's absence, Fitzwilliam offered: "I suspect the royal family were privately relieved."
With no major events on the horizon, it is unsure when fans might next see Harry and Meghan reunited with the royals. The couple could return to Europe as soon as September, where the 2023 Invictus Games are being held in Dusseldorf, Germany.
The games begin just one day after the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's death and the milestone marking King Charles III's first year on the throne.
With no birthday message sent to Meghan from Charles and Camilla or William and Kate's social media accounts this year, the two sides of the House of Windsor have not been seen interacting in public since the late queen's state funeral.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more