Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's son Prince Archie has just celebrated his fifth birthday and royal experts have revealed that the family likely marked the day with a "party in the Californian sunshine".
It's a gamble to celebrate a spring, or even a summer, birthday with a garden party with the unpredictable English weather always changing. But, for Prince Archie, who sits sixth in the royal line of succession, his May birthday is easily celebrated in the garden of his parents' $14 million Santa Barbara mansion thanks to the sunny LA weather.
And that's exactly what the Sussexes did to mark his fifth birthday, royal experts believe, with leading experts speculating that the young royal enjoyed a "party in the Californian sunshine" filled with "simple games", "ice cream" and a few famous faces.
"When it comes to her children's birthdays, Meghan is almost obsessed with the idea that they should be quiet, very private affairs, with simple games, a birthday cake and ice cream," royal expert Tom Quinn told The Mirror.
"Archie is a real live-wire who loves rushing around at top speed so there will also be blind man’s bluff and tag among other games. Meghan combines a deep sense of her own global importance in the wider world with a desire to make her children experience what she sees as the more ordinary things in life."
And there were likely some famous faces who made an appearance for the event. "For Archie's birthday, there will be friends from school, Meghan‘s mother Doria Ragland and one or two celebrities – any celebrity neighbour with a child the same age, and that includes actors Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom and their daughter Daisy – will definitely be invited," said Quinn, name-dropping just one of the famous couples who are good friends with the royals.
Royal expert and former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond gave slightly different insight into the day, using her own experience as a grandmother to speculate as to how the day might have played out.
"If my experience of being a grandmother to two children of a similar age is anything to go by, the day will begin with the kids squabbling over anything and everything," she told OK! Magazine.
"I expect his birthday presents will be something to do with whatever his latest fad is. A battery operated car or truck maybe? A junior surf board?
"A party in the Californian sunshine is a great deal easier to organise than a party in our changeable British weather. So I expect they will have some kind of celebration in the garden of their mansion. Or maybe on the beach with some of his friends. I imagine that granny Doria will be on hand to help and join in."
