Meghan Markle chose a song closely connected to Princess Diana‘s memory for Prince Harry’s birthday Instagram post yesterday.
The Duchess of Sussex, 45, marked her husband’s 42nd milestone with a collection of nine previously unseen photographs set to an indie folk cover of Tina Turner’s hit ‘The Best’.
It is likely no coincidence that Meghan picked that song, since it carries special significance for both the Duke of Sussex and his brother, the Prince of Wales, who previously revealed their mother would play the track while dropping them off at boarding school.
Speaking on an episode of the Apple Fitness+ series, Time to Walk, in 2021, Prince William shared that Diana ‘used to play all sorts of songs to while away the anxiety of going back to school’.
‘One of the songs I massively remember and has stuck with me all this time, and I still, to this day, still quite enjoy secretly, is Tina Turner’s The Best, because sitting in the back seat, singing away, it felt like a real family moment,’ the future King said at the time.
He recalled how Diana would be ‘singing at the top of her voice’ and the music would distract him and Harry right until they arrived at Ludgrove School in Berkshire and ‘reality kind of sunk in’.
‘You’d be singing and listening to the music right the way out into the gates of school, when they dropped you off,’ the Prince said. ‘And, and that’s when reality kind of sunk in that you really were going back to school because before that, you’re lost in songs.’
‘You’ll want to play it again just to keep that family moment going,’ he continued. ‘And when I listen to it now, it takes me back to those car rides and brings back lots of memories of my mother.’
The Duchess of Sussex , 45, marked her husband’s 42nd milestone with a collection of nine previously unseen photographs set to an indie folk cover of Tina Turner’s hit ‘The Best’
The Prince of Wales, who previously revealed their mother would play the track while dropping them off at boarding school.
On Tuesday, the Duchess shared intimate insights into the Sussexes’ family life with the release of nine new pictures to celebrate Harry’s 42nd birthday.
Meghan, who boasts 4.8million followers on Instagram, uploaded the sea of images of the prince with her and their children with the caption: ‘He’s simply the best. Happy birthday, my love,’ along with a heart emoji.
The montage is accompanied by husband-wife musical duo The Hound + The Fox’s cover of Simply the Best.
In one sweet snap, Harry is captured on an outdoor adventure with Meghan, 45, alongside Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, as well as their Labrador, Pula.
Believed to have possibly been taken at Earl Spencer’s home, Althorp, Harry is seen driving a quad bike down a narrow track with Lilibet and Archie sat on either side of an M&S food bag and Pula dutifully following behind.
In another snap, Harry, who is wearing a Santa Barbara Fire Department cap, shared a kiss with Lilibet, who sported a bright headband and red and white patterned top, while enjoying a golf cart ride.
In a sweet tribute to her mother, the 3D embellishments on Lilibet’s fashionable headband appear to be miniature Mahjong tiles – rectangular pieces used to play a traditional Chinese board game adored by the duchess.
Showcasing their close father-daughter bond, the montage also featured an image of Harry holding hands with Lilibet during a ski trip – with the young royal keeping warm in pink gloves and purple trousers, while her father donned black salopettes and a grey jacket.
Harry and Meghan are firm fans of the winter sport and often enjoy trips to the slopes together – including visits to Whistler Blackcomb in Canada and Montana’s Yellowstone Club.
In one sweet snap, Harry drives a quad bike with Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, sat beside an M&S food bag, while their beloved Labrador Pula trailing behind them
The montage also featured an image of Harry holding hands with Lilibet during a ski trip. The Sussexes are known to be firm fans of the winter sport
One black-and-white photograph shared by Meghan showed the prince carrying Lilibet’s pink tasselled bicycle as they walked hand-in-hand.
In another, the young princess took a photograph of Harry, who playfully posed with a basket on his head, with a Polaroid camera as the family sat down for a dinner which appeared to include olives and fruit.
Proving she is quite the camerawoman, Lilibet drew comparisons to her aunt, the Princess of Wales, who is a keen amateur photographer and in 2015 became the first member of the Royal Family to take the official first images of a royal newborn.
Dressed in a pair of spotty pyjamas, Lilibet and her father were seen in another image enjoying a peaceful lake view from a balcony.
Meanwhile, Harry and his son Archie enjoyed some father-son bonding with a game of archery in another picture. The father-son duo wore matching outfits, including shorts and white T-shirts.
Other images shared by the Duchess included an image of her and Harry sharing a warm embrace in a vineyard, while Archie is seen playing in the background.
Meghan chose a striking black-and-white photograph of the Duke, wearing sunglasses and a hat while looking out ahead deep in thought, as the first image of the carousel post.
Some royal fans have suggested the snap may have been taken by the Sussexes’ go-to photographer and close friend, Misan Harriman, who has documented key events in their lives and is renowned for his black-and-white images.
Soon after Meghan marked Harry’s birthday online, it emerged that the Duchess’s mobile number was reportedly being shared by parents at the school that Archie and Lilibet had just started.
Harry and Archie enjoyed some father-son bonding with a game of archery in another image. While the young prince wore sandals, his father stayed barefoot
The post also included a romantic shot of the couple sharing a warm embrace in a vineyard, while their two children are seen playing in the background
In a further security blow to the couple, screenshots from a WhatsApp group titled ‘Year 3’ that Meghan joined were said to be circulating online.
An alleged screenshot of the chat showed the duchess introducing herself with a message reading: ‘Hi moms! Thanks for the warm welcome [heart emoji]. So happy to be a part of this community xx’
The Sussexes refused to comment, but sources close to them said it was disappointing that fellow parents would seek to share such information.
Meghan is understood to have joined the group the night before Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet started at the school.
It emerged after Harry and Meghan decided to ‘reluctantly’ remove their children from the school they had just started over security fears regarding traffic.
The family’s bodyguards warned the couple that the busy commute was placing their unit ‘under strain’.
Rush hour meant the drive – supposed to take around 35 minutes – lasted as long as an hour, while on one journey a convoy carrying the prince and princess is said to have become separated, leaving the children ‘sitting ducks’ in stationary traffic.
One mother with two children at the school said Harry and Meghan’s decision to send their children there had been a coup and had excited many parents. But she added: ‘Parents at the school are completely baffled. You don’t need to be an expert to know how congested that area is. It’s one of the worst places to drive in the UK.’
Another mother said of the slow school run: ‘This was obviously going to happen.’
News of the WhatsApp leak was initially reported by The Sun.
Friends of the couple stressed that the decision to withdraw the children was not an issue with the school itself.
Archie and Lilibet will now join another school where they have already attended taster sessions. The Sussexes’ security, meanwhile, are said to be much happier that the new school will be a shorter commute from the family home.
But the fiasco has sparked questions over why the family’s drivers only tested the route during the summer holidays, amid claims that their return to the UK was ‘rushed’.
Their private protection team were seemingly unable to properly assess the hour-long journey to the unnamed school after the Sussexes announced the move in late August.
Former Met Police Chief Superintendent Dal Babu said: ‘It does beggar belief why they haven’t thought this through. I don’t think he [Harry] has helped himself or the situation by not arranging things in good time.’
Former head of royal protection Dai Davies also told LBC radio: ‘If you keep a low profile, most people outside the school wouldn’t know where you are, what they’re doing, and all the rest of it.
‘Do they really need to go in convoy with two little children on the school run? If they only just kept a little quieter, kept a lower profile, they’d be a lot safer in my view.’
The dramatic schools development came as it emerged that Harry’s demand for taxpayer-funded police protection is being ‘reviewed’ now he is back in Britain.
The duke and duchess are said to have been informed that ‘a decision’ was made at a meeting last week to examine the threat to both of them.
The prince has been at loggerheads with the Home Office for years over its decision to remove his automatic right to security. Harry has long argued that he was born a prince and needs police protection when in the UK.
But he lost a series of legal battles against the Home Office which deemed he had forfeited the right to be able to call at will on taxpayer-funded protection after he quit as a frontline royal in 2020 and moved to a new life in California.
Only last year, after yet another defeat at the Royal Courts of Justice – against his father His Majesty’s government – the prince declared in a petulant BBC interview that he could not imagine a time when he could safely bring his family to his country of birth.
But now that he has had a sudden change of heart, bringing Meghan, Archie and Lilibet to live in the UK, his access to police protection is being reviewed, it was reported on Monday evening.
The decision is said to involve reviewing the risks to Prince Harry and also to his wife.
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