Not surprisingly, People Magazine put the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on this week’s cover too, just like they did last week. For this cover, they’re using one of the photocall pics, and I love this shot too – the one of Harry looking at Meghan as he holds Baby Archie. Obviously, People doesn’t have any inside information other than “Archie will probably do crafts,” which… come on…
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s newborn son, Archie, is seventh in the line to the British throne, but his parents are determined to give him a normal childhood. The couple – who will celebrate their first anniversary on May 19 – have already taken measures to ensure their firstborn leads a typical life. Among them: moving away from Kensington Palace in favor of a home in the country, Frogmore Cottage, and opting not to give Archie a royal title.
“I see this kid being creative and doing tons of crafts, playing games,” a source tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “We all grew up with those activities, and just because this baby is going to be a royal doesn’t mean he won’t do all that fun stuff.”
I really feel strongly that Frogmore Cottage won’t be their permanent base forever. I think for the next year, absolutely. Then it will be their little country place when they eventually get a spacious apartment in one of the London palaces. At least that’s what I hope. Anyway, the REAL story is how everybody’s trying to convince themselves that Baby Archie will bring the Sussexes and Cambridges closer together.
Although Prince Harry and Prince William have grown apart recently, baby Archie provides an opportunity for the royal brothers to reconnect.
“William and Harry will want their children to know their cousins and do things together, so they will work harder at their relationship,” a source close to the royal household tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “The brothers will have a different kind of relationship and move on.”
Us Weekly also had a story about how Archie will bring Kate and Meghan closer and they “will be spending a lot more time together…Now that they’re bonding over motherhood, they’ve become closer than ever.” I buy it more for Kate and Meghan – I can definitely see the two of them arranging playdates in the future. Of course, I’ve always believed that Meghan and Kate see each other more as coworkers than anything else, and they are capable of maintaining a general niceness towards each other for that reason. But I do fear that what has been broken between William and Harry cannot really be fixed with a baby.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
That top photo of Kate never fails to leave me with a chill down my spine. Yikes…
Yeah… Cathy and Megs will do what’s best for the kiddos but I don’t see Harry and Will going back to what they once were.
The dynamic has changed for everyone involved. Such is life.
Maybe I have not had enough coffee this morning but in the top picture Cathy looks like Michelle Dockery…ie…Lady Mary Crawley.
I get more of a Lady Tremaine vibe.
Lady Tremaine from Cinderella? Lol….harsh! 😂
@Bella, in this photo, absolutely!
Facially, this was a bad day for Kate. She is a pretty woman, but you can see every line in her face. She looks stressed and sleep deprived.
It certainly isn’t a flattering photo which, I assume, is why it was chosen.
Both women are very pretty,but that pic of them both makes them look like the villains in a Disney movie!
I have to laugh because these photos always look like Kate is plotting to steal some Dalmatian puppies.
I empathize because I have RBF and if you took 100 photos of me I’d look angry or upset or unwell in 90 of them.
Meghan is just ridiculously photogenic, I think I’ve said this before.
Honestly this is what I think it is. Kate has RBF, and it’s not really anything personal against her to say that, lol. If you look at any picture of her from “serious” events she looks like this, more or less. I am similar to her in that I don’t know what to do with my face if I’m not smiling, and often when I’m in pictures I look like I’m really ticked off, but I’m just…..not smiling. Meghan is much better at sort of “resting ” her face in a pleasant fashion even when she’s not smiling. Not sure if that’s her acting background, or if she has always been that way.
Probably why it was picked – to fit the narrative.
And to me that’s an example of how difficult it is to be a Royal, despite all the perks: you are scrutinized 24/7. She was probably tired, was listening to some speech or something while her mind may have been elsewhere, and people interpret her expression sinisterly or as a “yikes” to fit in with whatever latest scenario gossip mags want to dream up. You don’t have cameras pointed at you non-stop.
Yes. Both women—who probably always got along well enough—will probably become closer and enjoy having their kids grow up together. The men, who knows.
Yeah……sadly I don’t see the cousins having a particularly close relationship. For that to happen, there has to be some proximity. One couple lives in London, the other in Windsor……if they couldn’t be close or make an effort living 2 mins away from one another, how will now living an hour away improve things? I’m guessing not.
I suspect the kids relationship will just become yet another weapon in the Cambridge vs Sussex ongoing war. I can see William withholding a relationship between Archie and his cousins as payback for any number of infractions by his parents. (Like he did/does? with his father Prince Charles). His natural sense of entitlement and superiority will most likely extend to how he views his nephew in relation to his own kids. I don’t see Kate making the slightest effort to push back on this in any way.
I think Meghan should make an effort, but don’t sweat it if the effort isn’t reciprocated. Focus instead on the less entitled, pompous branches of the family.
Why should Meghan make an effort if you suspect Will will not and Kate won’t push for it? Optics wise, this isn’t a good look for the Cambridges. If in the future there seem to be a distance between the cousins, it would not take a giant leap to assume that the reason why is because Uncle Will doesn’t like the idea of his kids’ first cousin being a mix-raced child. George and Charlotte seem to be very close to Anne’s grandchildren and I’m sure they’ll be close to Pippa’s child(ren). Louis is a year older than Archie. They’re perfect playmates. Your beloved brother is now a father and married. He is happier than he’s ever been. Will and Kate should be there for the Sussexes as much as Harry was there for the Cambridges when they first got married.
I agree: William’s sense of superiority is the foundation of this feud. He just oooooozes smug elitism.
I know Charles and Harry — all of them, really — have had, and will continue to have, their moments. But William takes the snob cake. The Prince of Prig. And I’m sorry, but for Kate to tolerate all that grand smugness for so long? She has got to be up there on the haughty Richter scale, too.
W&K have the massive space in London plus the weekend home at Sandringham. Zara and Peter live at Anne’s estate in Gloucestershire, 4 hours away. I think they see each other at horse and polo events, but not much more.
Harry and Meghan are at Frogmore, 30 minutes from London, with no London base. The house in the Cotswolds where the security was compromised by the paps? That was closer (1 hour) to Anne’s estate and Highgrove House, but hours from Sandringham. If they end up with a new country house, the choice of location will be interesting.
@notsugarhere
The Queen is giving Harry and Meghan a suite at Buckingham Palace, like Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, Royals that live outside of London.
I’ve seen that rumor, yoyo, but I haven’t seen anything confirmed. It wouldn’t be unusual. Andrew and Edward have 2 or 4 bedroom suites at BP. Anne has a townhouse at Saint James Palace, Princess Alexandra has a big apartment at SJP too.
Since BP is being renovated, eventually everyone who has an apartment there is going to have to be moved. It makes little sense for them to be given an apartment there now, if they’ll just have to move in a few years. It would make more sense for them to keep Nottingham Cottage as their London space, no?
No they won’t. I like Meghan, but as a three time mother, I would find it exhausting being around fussy new moms. I’d be rolling my eyes all the time.
Agreed – I think Archie will bring Kate and Meghan closer together, if only because it gives them something else in common beyond being royal wives. Kate seems like she wants her kids to be close to all the cousins, and I’m sure Meghan feels similarly, so I imagine they will make an effort, especially as Archie gets older. There’s only a year between him and Louis, which will be practically nothing as they get older.
I think Harry and William might make an effort, but I think that whatever happened between them over the past 6-8 months isn’t going to be fixed by a baby.
Yes, I think they don’t have much of a rift between Meghan and Kate as much as they don’t have much in common. Children is something they can form some form of bond over, and as the kids get older and Harry and Meghan are (likely) living in London, I think they will get closer. Probably not besties, but they’ll have more to talk about.
Not always true, I have known friends that make great plans that their kids are going to play together, and it don’t always works, some kids could not stand each other.
why on earth should anyone bother about this at all? if they didnt get along before the baby why waste time after the baby. willie and kate needed to leak their visit to harry and meghan just to get pr – who does that. better that willie and kate stay away and stick to doing their bs
Also, Archie is going to do crafts?
Nothing but cutting edge reporting from People.
Indeed, and also playing games and doing fun stuff.
We’ve very lucky to have the likes of People offering us these insightful little tidbits. It all helps to increase our understanding of what a small child might do in the future.
How would we ever have guessed, unless People told us such things?!
Groundbreaking news-toddlers and young children love crafts!😜
People really has that inside edge!
“As a human child, it is thought Archie may enjoy crafts and games.”
Lol!
*pictures Archie doing one of those loom potholder kits*
LOL!
as anyone with a SIL can attest…sometimes having kids does NOT make your relationship better. especially when one SIL is a self proclaimed super mom with 3 kids and talks to you like you’re dumber than dog shit when you don’t want to try using a magic sleep suit or something…not that i know about this phenomenon personally….
LOL!!!
One thing I’m thankful for is that my SIL (who has two kids) has hit the point where she’s very much aware that it’s all a sham and nobody knows what they’re doing haha. She just sighed in an exhausted way over easter and was like “I’ve lost control.” because my niece is a full stop threenager. A very very hyper threenager haha. My nephew is not one yet though, and so far much more mellow. But if we have kids (not super likely) or adopt kids she won’t be ragging on me.
That said – we went through a phase where we couldn’t stand each other. And once she moved out of their parents house and in with the guy she eventually married it was like a switch flipped and we just got along. Even more so now that she has two kids.
Yup. Ultimately if the adults don’t have much in common kids will change nothing. Since having a child my older SIL treats me with the exact same polite indifference that she always did although our children interact when together. Nothing whatsoever changed.
Just like babies do not fix marriages, babies will not fix other relationships. They may bond a bit but babies grow up.
Sad to see them at odds if it’s true, for all of them. They can do so much good with all that they have.
I think they’ll be mothers and SILs but not necessarily any closer than two women who have children. They still have very little in common. They have different social sets and interests. I don’t see them as enemies, though. Just two women who married brothers.
Speaking of the brothers, Archie won’t bring them back together. Too much has happened in the last year for Harry to forgive William. It was a huge betrayal and for someone as loyal to not only William, but to the Firm, the trust is gone and his defenses are up. I’m sure he is suspicious of every gesture William/Cambs make because he doesn’t know if that’ll be used against him and Meghan.
I agree the trust is broken on all fronts. Harry realizes he consciously and instinctively he will always need to be on guard to protect his biracial wife and child. Experiencing racism that close up is jarring and devastating. Harry is sensitive, very sensitive in fact and I bet you he’s beyond hurt. I am not saying things wont get better between him and William, but that pure trust they had before will never return.
I agree.
So true, TheOriginalMia.
I agree. Harry is probably feeling very defensive. Seeing his wife attacked the way she has been is one thing. It must have been hard for him but Megan is an adult and can take care of herself. Seeing his innocent, helpless baby dehumanized, days after he was born must have been a stab in the heart. It must have hurt him to see that NOBODY in his family stood up and spoke out about it.
As for Megan and Kate, they have nothing in common. Megan is a well-educated woman who has made her own way. Kate devoted her life to snagging William. What would they talk about?
I love how people “know” too much has happened which will forever alter William and Harry’s relationship. The only thing we definitively know which forever altered William and Harry’s relationship is the death of their mother at a young age. Unless you have personally gone through this experience, and I hope you haven’t, you don’t understand the bond with your siblings who went through the same thing. Honestly, my siblings could do the most awful things to me and while I would be angry for a while, I would still forgive them as I’m pretty sure they would forgive me. It’s just weird when you realize early in life your closest people in the world to you are not going to be there through your life with you. You cling to the ones who know you when, and definitely before it happened, as you realize they could be gone soon too. I wouldn’t dismiss this bond as something trivial which just goes away with regular sibling problems. Who doesn’t know a pair of siblings who had issues when one got married? Trust me you don’t get it, and honestly that is a good thing. As it’s a club, no one wants to be a part of.
I think the baby is what caused the rift, so he won’t fix it.
Still my belief that Will had some negative reaction to the baby news that pissed Harry off.
Her being pregnant or the baby announcement.
Children were inevitable. Why would he be fine with the marriage but not the baby?
Like the obsessed Harry fans and Meghan haters, William might have been wishing for a short-lived marriage with no children for his brother. A blip, then he would move on and marry a boring, blond aristo who wouldn’t make much effort at royal work.
Harry being besotted with his wife and child, and that wife stepping easily and quickly into the royal role? And refusing to sit back and put up with the PR abuses coming from KP? None of this makes W&K look good and William knows it.
@notasugarhere
It’s not impossible but Harry was clearly ready for kids which is why they didn’t waste time getting married. I can’t imagine William really thought she wouldn’t have at least one. Kids do seal the deal though; I see them going the distance but God forbid they separate Archie’s place as a Windsor is a done deal.
I do think William is pissed he can’t control Meghan like he use to control his brother and Kate.
But he waited to marry the right person for him, rather than settling for the convenience of Cressida. William would have preferred a Cressida.
I agree. William hoped that Megan was a phase. Someone in another thread said that members of royal families falling in love with African-Americans was a ‘trend’. William was probably hoping that Harry would get tired of Megan and move on. But now they have a child together, Megan is part of Harry’s life and part of the royal family forever. See: Fergueson, Sarah.
If there is a rift between the brothers–and there certainly appears to be, I think Harry, who seems to have been left more traumatized by his mother’s death than William is, has been deeply angered by William’s reported infidelity. Harry is particularly sensitive to the memory of their parents’s marital drama and to Charles’s betrayal of Diana with Camilla, since that was a large part of what led to the break-up and indirectly to Diana’s dating life and the circumstances that caused her death. That in itself—seeing that drama of infidelity ostensibly replaying itself again with William and Rose—would, I think, infuriate and unsettle Harry, who has always liked Kate and no doubt feels angered at William on her behalf. That Rose (if rumors of an affair are true) is not at all the serious love that Camilla was for Charles would only make William’s dalliance seem all the worse in Harry’s eyes, occurring during the period when Kate gave birth to William’s third child and considering the fact that she has always done everything she can to be a good wife to him.
Why would William’s infidelity cause such a rift between the brothers? It hasn’t before.
There seems to be a need to insist that the estrangement between the brothers is ALL ABOUT KATE, in an attempt to diminish Megan and her importance in Harry’s life.
Harry knows his brother and he knows Kate too. He knows that Kate was willing to put up with ANYTHING to snag William, so this latest humiliation is something she signed up for. It’s not the first time that William has cheated on Kate so why Harry would care NOW when he has a wife and a child of his own to attend to makes no sense.
If Harry and William are estranged, I have no doubt that it’s because of Harry’s WIFE, the woman he swore to love and cherish in front of the whole world and how his brother has treated her.
I thought that the rift was allegedly caused by William’s supposed racism prior to the marriage?
Until Easter, the narrative was that both Cambridges were behind the anti-Meghan campaign. All it took was a three second video of Harry joking with Kate to have her named removed from the stories because obviously, Harry wouldn’t talk to her if he believed she was behind a racist campaign against his wife. Suddenly we are meant to believe its always been William alone, which now I doubt (I’m talking about racism, I can see him feeling threatened by Meghan).
I hope they can solve whatever is going on.
Also, how come people believe William has more power than the Queen and Charles? Or that they do what he says because otherwise he’ll throw a fit? Seriously, most of this stories make no sense.
Will is young and many people, particularly in the media, overlook the old. But you’re right, though, Will does not have the power; it’s Charles and the Queen.
Archie is a baby not Jesus or Moses or MLK. Meghan and Kate don’t have to be friends.
Nothing is going to bring the brothers together other than many sit down sessions with a therapist with a desire for reconciliation that involves frank and open discussion.
The women are different in that they are not blood relatives and you can’t force people to be friends if they have nothing in common but an age. Both are 37 years old but are a world apart in how they were raised and the things they have accomplished.
Babies don’t fix relationships. It is what it is.
I agree. Even if there are many photo ops in the future with Kate and Meghan playing with their children together, the two have absolutely nothing else in common.
Harry was part of the trio for so long William probably feels lost and was not prepared. I’m not even sure who William is close to in the BRF, besides Harry. But Harry doesn’t appear to have the same crutch mentality and looks ready to blossom with his wife and new family. I think the cousins will bring them closer but dynamics have already changed. Harry is complete, for now.
I don’t believe there is a huge rift between any of them. Yes, I imagine Archie will bring them closer… cousins are fun.
Eh, I don’t see it. Plus I’m having a hard time writing this since I’ve been blinded by the buttons on that red dress.
i’m always struck by that photo of the four of them in church as the queen is entering – kate looks drawn and tense, william looks like he’s daydreaming and would rather be anywhere else, harry looks brooding and serious, and then meghan is just beaming. if i were the queen, i know which of the four expressions i’d be most pleased to see upon my entry.
My father and his only brother had a terrible rift when I was a child (my uncle basically scammed by father and it left us almost bankrupt). Us cousins were never involved in the matter and we were allowed to continue seeing each other and developing a strong, close relationship.
The Cambridge and Sussex children can have a close relationship even if their fathers are idiots about it, especially if Kate and Meghan makes it happen.
I think William and Harry will work it out. They have always had each and now they are both parents they will have more things in common. If they can forgive Charles they can get there relationship back on track. It’s already been said that Meghan and Harry will have a suite of rooms in Buckingham Palace as their official London residence. With all the money spent at Frogmore Cottage they will be there for a few years. Things could change when Charles becomes King. Either Harry and Meghan will get Clarence House or William and Kate will and the other a Kensington Palace apartments.
The BP story makes little sense. BP is being torn apart for the next 10 years, staff are being moved out, Andrew and Edward will have to find new London space. Clarence House will be turned to offices or rented out once Charles is king. They cannot keep BP, KP, SJP, and Clarence House for a total of six working royals. Slimdown plan must include decreasing costs and decreasing the number of royal residences to be secured.
Harry has spent years being used for PR, by his father and brother. If he’s now in a better place with his father? His brother directing abuse at Meghan or using Meghan as the scapegoat isn’t going to make things better. It will make things much worse.
William and Kate made this bed, but now Harry has Meghan and more steel in his spine. Plus he has the backing of HM and Charles moving him away from William’s control at KP.
You realize that you come across as a full on conspiracy theorist much of the time, don’t you?
LOL. The tinhats are on tumblr, RD, and RG.
Watching this for decades, seeing William publicly exposed as the petulant little sh t most said he was? It isn’t eye-opening or surprising, unless you weren’t paying attention all along.
You also gaslight other commenters. It’s fine, you’re going to post how you like. Just pointing out that you often sound like a tinfoil hatter yourself.
And no, I’m not from Tumblr or RD, just a CB reader since 2007.
Decades of amateur historian watching these folks and their counterparts from other countries. Not conspiracy theories, merely experience and time.
Funny how other people are writing the same things I am, but you’re not making insinuations about gaslighting and conspiracy theories. Nice try but plenty obvious.
K.
I think we’re forgetting that The Times,yes the same outlet who has been recently used A LOT to “prove” this and that conspiracy,also ran a quite believable story that actually says that the reason why Charles and the Queen brought them at BP is because they’re the ones who want to control them,lol.
But it doesn’t fit the other conspiracies. Right?
Everything I’ve heard for the past few years is that Charles will NOT automatically move out of Clarence House when he becomes king.
Charles ‘ plan is to live at Clarence and convert Buckingham palace into the royal business HQ. It wouldn’t be his official residence.
It makes sense. He’s been at Clarence for years and he’s old. Why move somewhere else after you’ve gotten the place you’ve been at for years the way you want it?
I agree with you Harper. I think Charles will never live at BP and it will be a very lovely tourist attraction and a place for state visits. Windsor may even be opened up more because Charles loves the Highlands so much. He is slimming down the monarchy but not at the cost of his two sons. The other, older royals will not have jobs but Harry has one until Charles dies and maybe a few years after William is King until George has finished college. That’s if he doesn’t leave the family before all of that happens.
He might want to live at Clarence House once monarch, but HM wanted to do that too. See how it turned out? She and Philip were required to move to BP. Charles is 70, Philip is 97. If Charles lives another 25 years, I can see people getting angry about costs at Clarence House for those extra decades.
The change is the 10 year BP restoration plan, which takes BP out of the mix for a few years. There was a press release about how HM and Prince Philip would move to Windsor for 2025-7 because of BP renovations. If either of them are still around then.
Otherwise, it would potentially be Charles moving to Windsor for those years. One idea floated is that Charles as monarch would stay at Windsor and not have a London base. With Harry and Meghan at Frogmore Cottage, that would give their family lots of time with Grandpa Charles.
If Charles agrees to open up BP so that it is essentially a tourist attraction along with government offices, I suspect he could stay at Clarence House. BP is not open as a tourist attraction that much and it could make more money for the government if it was.
I just think Harry and William grew apart nothing dramatic happen I think a lot in the British media want so badly to blame Meghan because it’s makes for a good headline . Honestly I don’t think William and Harry were as close as people think William had his family and now Harry has his own family .
Could we just stop with this narrative. When two mothers are not close, there is no chance that the children will. Kate and Meghan might not feuding the way Harry and William do, but they have never ever been close and most of the time indifference sets people appart more than feud especially within a family.
God, William is just such a wet blanket. I could see the baby bringing Kate, Meg, and Harry closer… but not William. He behaves like such a selfish child on his own that I don’t think it will make any difference. Kate and Meg don’t seem to have much in common beyond the family that they married into, and that’s okay. I wouldn’t have sought out friendship from my sisters in law if we hadn’t married into the same family. We get along fine, and we bond over kids and that’s enough. We don’t need to braid each others hair and do everything together.
I don’t think Archie will bring William and Harry closer, or make Kate and Meghan closer. I don’t think the two women have anything much in common and I can’t see them bothering to make an effort if their husbands aren’t close, and I think their husbands are growing apart more and more as they age. Just because William and Harry are brothers who were close as children and young men doesn’t mean they will stay that way, or even that they necessarily should. They are very different people and William seems to have an arrogant, entitled streak and sees nothing wrong with throwing his brother under the bus to advance his own interests, and I’m guessing Harry’s finally resisting and defending his own interests and those of his wife. All in all I see a future where the Cambridge and Sussex families will not be particularly close but I don’t think it matters.
Well said, Boudica.
kate wont be friendly with meghan unless william allows her to – has she ever done something that he doesnt like – she wont
I hope that he does, if only for the fact that Meghan’s father’s side are all terrible and Doria is an only child, so it would be lovely for Archie and any other Sussex children to be close with their first cousins.
I’m sure that there will be a relationship with the Phillips and Tindall kids, and likely Eug’s kids as well, but it would be nice if Meg didn’t have to deal with BS from both her father’s side and her husband’s father’s side.
Doria has two half-brothers and one half-sister. Only one-half brother was invited to the wedding, the other one did an interview and sold the family album to the Dailymail, he only had positive stuff to say, other than bitching that he did not mind not getting invited, but is wife was real upset.
Almost a year after a wedding, and still whining.
The way I look at it, if Doria wanted them invited, Meghan would’ve.
I had no idea! I don’t know why I thought Doria had no siblings.
To put a bit of perspective on this – can anyone possibly imagine that Anne got on well, or liked, or approved of Diana or Fergie? And did the world come to an end? No. However, I can imagine that she would get on with Sophie.
I agree about Kate and Meghan. Meghan doesn’t strike me as the type to be anything but cordial and perfectly nice to people. I think they’ll make it work, because there’s really no reason for the two of them to have any beef with each other. They’re not going to be particularly close, but they don’t really need to be.
Kate is very photogenic, pick the 1 worst pic out of a million nice ones just to fit the nasty Kate narrative. Only on celebitchy. Staying true to the name!