Meghan Markle held Prince Archie’s fourth birthday at her Montecito mansion as it would have been “inauthentic” of her to throw it somewhere else, sources say.
The 41-year-old mother of two missed out on a once-in-an-lifetime event to stay put in the US as King Charles was officially crowned on Saturday.
Meanwhile, husband Prince Harry strolled into Westminster Abbey without his other half for a brief appearance on his father’s special day.
But the Duke skipped the post-coronation lunch at Buckingham Palace and rushed back to the States after the service as he was “always determined to get back in time to spend part of Archie’s birthday at home”, sources told the Mail on Sunday.
Meghan was throwing a “private” party for Archie’s fourth birthday in the couple’s £11million Montecito mansion in California.
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Sources claim Meghan chose their home as the party location as “she felt it would be inauthentic to do anything else”, the Daily Mail reports.
The party reportedly featured a homemade lemon cake and a host of celebrity guests.
Meghan’s mum Doria Ragland is believed to have attended her grandson Archie’s birthday party.
The Duchess’s close friend, make-up mogul Victoria Jackson, 65, is also thought to have been there.
Meghan and Harry’s lavish neighbourhood is packed with celebrity residents close by, from Oprah Winfrey to Gwenyth Paltrow.
When asked if any of the party guests included celebrity neighbours, a source said: “Some of their friends are celebrities, so yes, that’s likely. It will be a small, intimate gathering.”
Harry rocked up at Heathrow Airport in a black BMW, managing to catch a 3.45pm flight back to LA.
He spent just 28 hours and roughly 42 minutes in the UK in total – and landed back in LA at 6.30pm local time.
A source told the Mail on Sunday: “Harry was determined to be back in time to tuck Archie into bed.”
King Charles invited both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to the Coronation – the first in 70 years following the accession of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
But ahead of May 6, many speculated for weeks whether the Duke of Sussex would even attend his father’s Coronation at all given his bitter fallout with the Royal Family.
It comes after the Sussexes stepped back from their royal duties and began unleashing bombshell claims about the monarchy.
These began with allegations of racism in an explosive interview with Orpah in 2021 and continued in Harry’s tell-all memoir Spare and the couple’s hit Netflix series Harry and Meghan.
Harry discussed his early relationship with his stepmother and new Queen Consort, Camilla, in the new book.
He wrote in the autobiography: “I have complex feelings about gaining a step-parent who I thought had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar.”
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