William and Kate Post Royal Baptism Photo for Archie's 3rd Birthday

Members of the royal family have posted birthday wishes to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's son Archie as he celebrates his third birthday.

Prince William and Kate Middleton's official social media accounts posted a photograph taken at Archie's July 2019 christening with the message: "Wishing Archie a very happy 3rd Birthday today."

The social media message, an annual royal tradition, comes as many of the family members, including Archie's great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, and his grandfather, Prince Charles, have not seen him in person since he moved with his parents from Britain to Canada in 2019 and then California in 2020.

Harry voiced his concerns about bringing his children to the U.K. to see his family owing to unhappiness over his security allocation which was reassessed when he stepped down, alongside Meghan, as full-time working members of the royal family.

When asked by Today show host Hoda Kotb if the prince and his family would be at the queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June, he responded: "I don't know yet. There's lots of things with security issues and everything else. This is what I'm trying to do, trying to make it possible that I can get my kids to meet her."

To mark his third birthday, the queen's official Twitter account posted a touching image of Archie taken at just two days old when he was introduced to the monarch and her husband, the late-Prince Philip, at Windsor Castle.

The caption accompanying the post reads: "Wishing Archie Mountbatten-Windsor a very happy 3rd Birthday!"

Archie's grandfather, Prince Charles, also posted across his social media channels wishing his fourth grandchild a "happy birthday." This follows reports of strained relations between Charles and Harry, with the latter claiming in his 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey that his father had stopped taking his calls.

The father and son reportedly met at Windsor Castle in April when the prince paid a private visit to his grandmother, the queen, on his way with wife Meghan to the Invictus Games in the Netherlands.

The post made from Charles' official Instagram account shared a photograph of himself, Harry and Archie taken at the 2019 christening with the caption: "Happy Birthday Archie." The prince's Twitter account also marked the occasion, posting the message there.

Sussexes' Image Control

The royals' collective posts are notable for all using images of Archie taken during the time his parents were full-time working royals. This is because both Harry and Meghan have both taken increased control over the dissemination of photographs of their children.

Since their move abroad and redefinition of their public role, Harry and Meghan have broken away with the conventional operational structure of royal family life and this extends to the expected release of photographs on birthdays and other events.

Prince William and Kate Middleton release photographs of their children, Prince George, 8, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4, annually in a move which is seen to provide the fascinated public with controlled access to their children and reducing motivation for paparazzi photographers to invade the family's privacy.

In an additional move, Kate herself usually takes the birthday photographs of her children which is viewed as an extension of this control.

Claudia Acott Williams, author of The Crown in Focus: Two Centuries of Royal Photography, writes that: "Such a personal approach has served as an effective means of satisfying public demands to share in royal milestones while allowing the family to retain a certain degree of privacy and control over the images' construction."

For Archie, his parents have taken similar pains to prevent unauthorized and intrusive photographs being taken.

Speaking on the Armchair Experts podcast, Harry explained to host Dax Shepard that paparazzi followed Archie to his first day at school. "Page Six of the New York Post, they took photos of my son being picked up from school on his first day," he said, adding that "these kids don't get a choice; they don't get a say in it."

On the occasion of his third birthday, royal watchers wait with baited breath to see if a new image of Archie will be released by the Sussexes, though since the couple have been off of social media now for over two years, any release will be made through their Archewell Foundation.