Prince Archie – the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – celebrated his sixth birthday this week at the family’s California home in Montecito.

His mother, Meghan Markle, subsequently shared a sentimental snap on Instagram of her little boy’s big day, with fans of the British monarchy delighted to have gained a glimpse at the royal youngster.

Unlike typical birthday photographs shared online by excited parents, however, 43-year-old’s Meghan’s social media upload saw no inclusion of Archie’s cake, balloons, or his presents.

In fact, the single, somewhat emotive image saw the child standing alone on the edge of a balcony, looking out onto the ocean below.

It didn’t take long for some critics to point out a particularly bittersweet aspect of Archie’s sixth birthday – which just so happened to fall within days of the VE Day celebrations taking place in the UK.

The trio were also seen laughing together (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)

While the Sussex’s eldest posed alone on his balcony this week, his cousins from across the pond, Princes George and Louis, and Princess Charlotte, sat together on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

The children of Archie’s uncle, Harry‘s brother Prince William, and wife Kate Middleton, joined their grandfather King Charles III for the festivities, which marks the German surrender during WWII and remembers the lives lost during warfare.

Images of the Wales children smiling together and making jokes while perched upon the Palace’s balcony were splashed across the global media, all the while Archie celebrated his birthday in the company of his parents and sister Lilibet, three.

Some royal fans were seemingly heartbroken at the prospect of a family divided, with one writing on social media: “Archie’s balcony moment… the solitary vibe is very sad.”

Another wrote online: “The children on the Buckingham Palace balcony look happy. Archie’s photo just makes me feel sad.

The couple resigned from their royal duties in 2020 (Matt Dunham – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

“He seems lonely in the photo. It’s an odd photo choice for a 6th birthday.”

Others, meanwhile, suggested that Archie’s birthday photo was simply a means of Meghan emphasising her son’s newfound freedom, with she and Harry having resigned from their royal duties due to the pressures and maltreatment that came with their roles.

“I wondered if it’s meant to be Archie on a ‘balcony’ after the balcony scenes on this side of the Atlantic,” one postulated.

“But looking out to sea is her saying he has freedom? Or am I reading too much in it for even her?”

Another passionate spectator also tweeted in response: “Little Prince Archie facing the sun instead of the gloom and wretchedness of the cursed BP balcony.”

Several spectators have suggested theories regarding Archie’s birthday upload (Instagram/@meghan)

This skeptical notion was also seconded by another social media user, who wrote, ‘Prince Archie did not have to share his balcony with a bunch of racist strangers’, seemingly alluding to the accusations Meghan and Harry made about members of the monarchy in 2020, who reportedly raised questions about their child’s skin colour.

Another suggested: “Archie’s sunset picture on his balcony gave feelings of Simba from Lion King, inheriting the land and beauty that his Pa and Mum has built for him. Archie’s balcony built from LOVE!”

As the apparent war between the Wales and the Sussexes rages on, Prince William is said to have taken on a professional endeavour that is sure to rile up his estranged sister-in-law Meghan Markle.

According to new reports, the future King had agreed to feature as a guest on a popular British television series in the coming weeks – the host of which has been outwardly anti-Meghan for some time.

We are, of course, talking about Clarkson’s Farm, the Amazon Prime docu-series following controversial presenter Jeremy Clarkson as he and his family attempt to run a working farm in the Cotswolds.

Famously outspoken, the former Top Gear host, who was fired from the BBC motoring series for punching a producer, penned numerous newspapers articles about the mother-of-two, many of which were branded both hateful and misogynistic.

Clarkson has been explicitly anti-Meghan for some time (Qian Jun/MB Media/Getty Images)

Clarkson, 65, faced mass criticism in 2022 for writing of Meghan in The Sun: “I hate her. Not like I hate Nicola Sturgeon or Rose West. I hate her on a cellular level.”

He added at the time: “At night, I’m unable to sleep as I lie there, grinding my teeth and dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her.”

Despite said article being taken down by The Sun and the publication issuing an apology, in other written pieces of work, Clarkson has slammed Meghan’s ‘simpering victimhood’, and branded her a ‘silly little cable TV actress’.

Naturally, therefore, it was somewhat unexpected when the Duchess’ brother-in-law Prince William met with Clarkson’s Farm stars Kaleb Cooper and Charlie Ireland – along with a number of young farmers – at Folly Farm in Somerset back in March.

Whilst the meet-up was initially purposed with a means of raising awareness of mental health care among the farming community, it seems 42-year-old William has kept up his relations with the show, including Clarkson himself.

William with Clarkson’s Farm stars Kaleb Cooper and Charlie Ireland earlier this year (PA)

PEOPLE Magazine reported this week that the father-of-three is set to make an appearance in a future instalment of the lifestyle series, despite Clarkson having relentlessly slammed brother Harry’s wife Meghan in the press for several years.

Quoting an article from The Times, the outlet report: “Prince William features in the next-but-one series of Clarkson’s Farm.”

Despite the Prince being absent from the latest trailer for the series, the BBC also previously reported that he’d be making a cameo soon.

It’s likely the news won’t go down too well with the Sussexes, who issued a serious response following the release of Clarkson’s notorious article, after which he claimed to have apologised to the couple.

A spokesperson for Meghan and Harry told the media at the time: “On December 25, 2022, Mr. Clarkson wrote solely to Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex. The contents of his correspondence were marked Private and Confidential.

“While a new public apology has been issued today by Mr. Clarkson, what remains to be addressed is his long-standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories and misogyny.”

The Wales’ and the Sussexes are said to have been embroiled in a feud for some time (Kirsty O’Connor – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

The statement continued: “Unless each of his other pieces were also written ‘in a hurry,’ as he states, it is clear that this is not an isolated incident shared in haste but rather a series of articles shared in hate.”

Representatives for William and his wife Kate Middleton failed to release a statement on the attack on Meghan at the time, with the brothers reportedly having been embroiled in a bitter feud since 2020.

That year, Harry and Meghan resigned from their royal responsibilities and fled from the UK to the States in a bid to set up a private new life.

Following their departure, the couple made a number of accusations against the British monarchy, naming William as being specifically against their union from Day One, even having allegedly tackled Harry to the ground during a discussion about Meghan.

Earlier this month, however, Harry told the BBC that he didn’t want to fight with his family anymore, claiming: “I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point continuing to fight any more, life is precious.

“I don’t know how much longer my father has. You know, he won’t speak to me because of this security stuff.

“But it would be nice to – it would be nice to reconcile.”

Apparently, something’s not quite right with Meghan Markle’s 2025 Instagram return.

Following the Duchess’ shock return to social media yesterday (1 January), some of her most eagle-eyed followers believe they’ve spotted a series of cryptic errors in her very first upload, and are trying to make sense of what it means.

Take a look:

Prior to her New Year’s Day upload, neither Meghan nor her husband Prince Harry had used social media for a staggering four years.

The couple – who wed in 2018 – had an official royal account @sussex.royal set up the following year.

But in 2021, they reportedly shut it down after being subjected to an onslaught of criticism from online trolls after they stepped away from their royal duties moved from the UK to the US.

But the mother-of-two has now made her comeback, kicking off 2025 with a video of herself running barefoot on the beach – presumably close to their house in Montecito, California – before she writes the numbers ‘2025’ in the sand.

However, some of the 43-year-old’s new online followers have been looking closely at Meghan’s video.

And as such, they’ve noticed that something doesn’t quite add up in the formatting of the clip.

The clip allegedly contained a ‘hidden message’ (Instagram/@meghan)

The sweet tribute to the year ahead ends with her writing her note in the sand, with the remainder of the clip seemingly showing the royal looking carefully for the perfect place to write it.

It is after she finishes writing her message in cursive that Meghan looks back at the camera and smiles, before running out of view.

Some Instagram users have noticed, however, that the four-digits were already seen inscribed into it in the background of the beginning of the video, believing the video as a whole may actually have been filmed more than once.

This isn’t the only intriguing aspect of the video to have left viewers stumped.

The meaning behind the Meghan’s message in the sand has divided opinion – especially among royal experts – with some adamant she’s simply ringing in the New Year, and others believing she’s sending out a ‘hidden message’.

Royal commentator Ingrid Seward told The Sun today that she believes the Duchess wants to start 2025 off on a ‘strong note’ by ‘separating’ herself from her husband and their two children.

“I think it’s a positive message,” she explained. “‘Hi, I’m here. I’m back. I’m doing my thing, and Harry will be doing his thing, and I should be doing mine’.

Meghan’s Instagram return has set tongues wagging (Leon Bennett/FilmMagic)

“They’ve been sort of dogged a bit last year by lots of rumours about the state of their marriage, and whether Harry was happy and why we haven’t seen more of Meghan, and I think she realises that she wants to start 2025 on a very positive and sort of strong note.

“You know, ‘look at me, I’m here. Watch out for me and what I’m doing’.”

That wasn’t the end of Seward’s assessment, however – and she also made a interesting prediction about Meghan’s future plans in the online sphere.

Believing she plans to forge a ‘new beginning’ for herself this year, she added: “This is the first video she’s posted on her new video site, which she’s called just Meghan, which I think is quite nice.

“[Meghan’s] supposedly got her cooking program, her lifestyle program coming up. I think we’ll probably be getting many, many more.”

It would seem that the Duchess of Sussex is dead set on keeping her new surname.

Just weeks after revealing she’s been going by a secret Royal moniker behind the scenes for several years now, fans of Meghan Markle have come across a feature of her new shopping site that hints she’s planning on keeping it long-term.

For those in need of a reminder, the 43-year-old has been known by the public as ‘Meghan Markle’ ever since sky-rocketing into the spotlight on the hit legal drama Suits in 2011.

This in itself is pretty odd – considering the actress’ birth name is actually ‘Rachel’, the same as her on-screen character. But, we move.

Meghan also revealed recently that she made the decision to ditch the surname Markle, and has been going by a different title since she and Prince Harry tied the knot back in 2018.

Speaking to PEOPLE Magazine earlier this month, she broke the news that she, her husband, their five-year-old son Archie and three-year-old daughter Lilibet have all been using ‘Sussex’ as their official surname for a while.

The Duchess explained that the name was bestowed on she and Harry by his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, on their wedding day, before being passed down to their children.

“It’s our shared name as a family, and I guess I hadn’t recognised how meaningful that would be to me until we had children,” she told the publication. “I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H and I all have together.”

And as we say, it looks as though the Duchess plans on using Sussex professionally going forward – even incorporating her new initials into her new shopping website, ‘As Ever’.

Meghan has changed her name to ‘MS’ on the site (Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation)

The social media venture – which serves as an online shop selling ‘handpicked and curated collection of the things I love’ – sees Meghan’s initials listed as ‘MS’, as opposed to her usual, ‘MM’.

In fact, the full URL for the site reads ‘shopmy.us/ms’.

On her new self-fronted Netflix series With Love, Meghan – which was released days after the mother-of-two told PEOPLE of her name change – she also reiterated the title of ‘Sussex’.

Hosting celebrity gal pal Mindy Kaling on the show, The Office actress referred to Meghan as a ‘Markle’ whilst discussing fast-food takeaways.

“I don’t think anyone in the world knows that Meghan Markle has eaten Jack In The Box and loves it,” Khaling laughed.

Meghan, in turn, replied: “It’s so funny you keep saying Meghan Markle, you know I’m Sussex now. You have kids and you go ‘No, I share my name with my children’.

She added: “I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me but it just means so much to go ‘This is OUR family name. Our little family name’.”