Since she rejoined Instagram at the very start of this year, Meghan Markle (apologies, Sussex) has given her followers a rare and privileged glimpse into her closely guarded private life. Here she is running barefoot on the beach; paying tribute to her dearly departed beagle, Guy; at lunch with her husband, Prince Harry; baking cookies with her kids; and shimmying to “Summer Renaissance” at a Beyoncé show. But now comes perhaps the most intimate insight of all: two family photos shared to mark her daughter Princess Lilibet’s fourth birthday.
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The first shows the young royal in her mother’s arms, their hair blowing in the wind as they lie back on a boat, but the second is even more remarkable—a candid throwback shot of Lilibet as a newborn being cradled by Meghan. “Happy birthday to our beautiful girl!” the duchess wrote in the caption. “Four years ago today she came into our lives—and each day is brighter and better because of it. Thanks to all of those sending love and celebrating her special day!”
Meghan sharing a birthday photo of her children is, of course, nothing new—just last month, she posted a similar tribute to Prince Archie on his sixth birthday, which showed her son looking out onto a golden sunset. But the birth photo feels even more personal and is, perhaps, an indication of the duchess’s willingness to open up just that little bit more to her fans.
In the run-up to the second season of her Netflix hit, With Love, Meghan, due to drop this fall, here’s hoping for even more casual snapshots, at-home cooking videos and previously unseen baby pictures—and maybe even a brief cameo from the two kids in the series itself.