September 15, 2024, marked Prince Harry’s 40th birthday.
His family, including his father and his brother, congratulated him on the joyous occasion with posts on the social media, which marked the first public message for Harry by the British royals since 2021.
“Wishing The Duke of Sussex a very happy 40th birthday today!” the post by The Royal Family’s X account read. Along with the message, they included a photo of the Prince smiling and added a cake emoji.
The Prince and Princess of Wales re-posted the message writing: “Wishing a Happy 40th Birthday to The Duke of Sussex!”
🎂 Wishing The Duke of Sussex a very happy 40th birthday today! pic.twitter.com/sAlSiV9EaZ
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 15, 2024
Many saw this as a positive sign towards improving the relationship between Harry and his family, especially his brother William.
Sadly, the strong bond the two brothers once shared has now been strained.
Ever since Harry and Meghan stepped down from their royal duties and spoke about the royals and the things that took place behind closed doors in the infamous Oprah interview, in which they accused a senior royal of questioning the skin of then unborn Archie, the relationship between them and the rest of the members of the Firm sort of shattered.
After everything that has taken place during the four years since Harry and Meghan settled in The States, including the publishing of Harry’s all-tell memoir Spare and the Netflix documentary that revealed details about the royals and in which no one was “spared,” Harry reached out to his father following the revelation of his cancer diagnosis.
It was reported that it was King Charles himself who disclosed his condition with his younger son who then traveled to Britain to visit his father but was only given around 30 minutes to spend with him.
When Kate’s cancer diagnosis was made public, Harry and Meghan reached out to her and showed their support.
In fact, Harry and Kate have always been very close. From the moment they first met, they got along, and William was very happy that his girlfriend and his brother expressed mutual fondness for one another.
Just how close the two were speaks the fact that he had a special nickname for her.
Ok Magazine wrote how the prince called his sister-in-law “Cath.”
During an interview with BBC Radio 1, the host asked Kate: “Is this a thing just in the family?” referring to what Harry calls her. “Yeah, I’m not sure,” the Duchess answered. “I’m not that familiar with it I have to say, but I’ll answer to most things to be honest.”
Kate Middleton and Prince Harry first met in 2003 at Highgrove. The Duke of Sussex was around when his brother, Prince William, invited Kate Middleton to meet his father at Prince Charles’s family house.
“I actually went bright red when I met [him] and scuttled off feeling very shy about meeting [him],” Kate admitted, adding, “William wasn’t there for quite a bit of the time initially, he wasn’t there from Fresher’s Week, so it did take a bit of time for us to get to know each other, but we did become very close friends from quite early on.”
According to royal author Christopher Andersen, when Harry and Kate first met and she looked away for a moment, he said, “Oh my God, she is gorgeous!”
In his book, Harry recalled meeting Kate.
“I liked his new girlfriend. She was carefree, sweet, kind. She’d done a gap year in Florence, knew about photography, art. And clothes. She loved clothes,” Harry recalled.
He then praised her humor, explaining that he “liked seeing Kate laugh.”
“Better yet, I liked making her laugh,” Harry added. “And I was quite good at it. My transparently silly side connected with her heavily disguised silly side.
“I loved my new sister-in-law,” Harry wrote. “I felt she was more sister than in-law, the sister I’ve never had and always wanted, and I was pleased that she’d forever be standing by Willy’s side. She was a good match for my older brother. They made each other visibly happy, and therefore I was happy too.”
Harry was said to have celebrated his 40th birthday with his wife and children as well as some close friends.
“I was anxious about 30, I’m excited about 40,” Harry told BBC ahead of his birthday.
“Becoming a father of two incredibly kind and funny kids has given me a fresh perspective on life, as well as sharpening my focus in all my work,” the prince said in a statement released by his spokesperson.
The Duke added: “Being a dad is one of life’s greatest joys and has only made me more driven and more committed to making this world a better place.”
However, in the past, when he was still living in Britain, he always celebrated his birthday with his family, including William and Kate.
On the occasion of him turning 30, the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had planned an intimate dinner for Harry, inviting his friends.
At the time, Kate was pregnant with Princess Charlotte and experienced morning sickness thus wasn’t able to attend the dinner. Not wanting to celebrate without his sister-in-law, Harry allegedly canceled the dinner altogether.
“Harry was in no doubt that the party should be postponed, even though 30 is an important milestone. Kate had been very involved in organising Harry’s party, and once she fell ill he felt it wrong to let the event go ahead,” a source told the Mirror.
He only celebrated his birthday when Kate was able to attend it.
According to royal experts, it was Kate who persuaded her husband to honor Harry for his 40th birthday on the social media.
“I don’t think this almost insignificant gesture signals the start of a reconciliation, but it is an unexpected twist,” Jennie Bond wrote.
“Landmark birthdays are often a time for taking a look at your life. This time it seems to be William who has been doing some re-evaluation. My gut feeling is that Catherine was influential in this slight softening of her husband’s implacable stand. In the film she made about the end of her chemotherapy, she told how cancer had given her a new perspective.”
Bond added that Kate Middleton could’ve “persuaded” William into thinking that “life is too short for grudges.” However, she stated that Harry and his brother’s relationship is “almost irretrievable.”
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