Meghan Markle has shared a new birthday photo of her eldest child, Prince Archie, for his 7th birthday on Wednesday (6 May).
The 44-year-old Duchess of Sussex took to Instagram to share two snaps of Archie with her 4.5 million followers.
The first showed a physical photo of little Archie as a newborn lying on his dad, Prince Harry's, chest, while the second image showed Archie and his younger sister, four-year-old Princess Lilibet, looking away from the camera on a sunny beach.
Meghan captioned the sweet post: "7 years later…happy birthday to our sweet boy [heart emoji]."
Meghan Markle shared an adorable post for Prince Archie's 7th birthday yesterday (Tommaso Boddi / Stringer / Getty Images) Many fans rushed to social media to share their elation over the heartfelt snaps and caption with one gushing: "Meghan sharing this. Such a beautiful, wholesome moment. My heart is full."
A second chimed in: "Happy birthday, Archie! Wow, the Sussex children have Spencer sprinkled all over them! Beautiful brother-sister duo! And the auburn hair colour! Thanks for sharing with us, Meghan!"
And a third echoed: "Happy Seventh birthday to Meghan and Prince Harry’s first baby and the most adorable ginger boy, Prince Archie."
Fans rushed in to gush over the sweet 'then and now' snaps (Instagram/@meghan) However, it didn't take long for the anti-Meghan Markle brigade to come out and seethe over one supposedly 'missing' detail from the birthday tribute, namely Archie's name.
"Markle doesn't even mention Archie's name!!" slammed one critic, while a second jabbed: "She doesn't even say his name. Poor kid."
Another piped up: "She doesn’t even call him by name. Just 'our sweet boy'."
And a final critic hit out: "Fitting, since she never says Harry’s either."
Archie's younger sister, Princess Lilibet, also made an appearance in Meghan's birthday tribute (Instagram/@meghan) Meghan's birthday post comes after she shared a few astrology-themed Instagram Stories posts, with one post's caption reading: "Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius ending the hardest seven years of their lives on April 25th".
The post sparked all sorts of speculation over what the royal could be referring to.
The mother-of-two stepped away from royal life in early 2020 with her husband, Prince Harry, before the couple moved from the UK to California with their son Archie, and welcomed their daughter Lilibet in 2021.
Within that time, she's been cruelly targeted by online bullies and tabloid press, and even recently referred to herself as the 'most trolled person in the world'.
Meghan made the remarks as she and Harry met with young people associated with the Australian mental health organisation Batyr at Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology last month (16 April).
"For now, 10 years, every day for 10 years, I have been bullied and attacked. And I was the most trolled person in the entire world," she shared.
Tyla has previously reached out to Meghan Markle's representatives for comment.