Princess Lilibet turns two: Harry and Meghan’s daughter celebrates very different birthday in US

This year’s celebrations were in sharp contrast to last year’s tea party at Frogmore Cottage

Princess Lilibet Diana turned two years old on Sunday (4 June).

The young royal, who is the second child of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, celebrated her first birthday in the UK last year, but this time she was in Montecito, California, where the Sussexes now live after they stepped back from royal duties in 2020.

This marks a very different birthday for the family, who celebrated at Frogmore Cottage last year with British relatives in an intimate garden picnic. They were joined by Mike Tindall and Zara’s children Mia, nine, Lena, four, and Lucas, two.

Other guests included photographer and Chair of the Southbank Centre Misan Harriman and his wife and children, who took Lilibet’s portrait that day.

Harry’s old friend, Charlie Van Straubenzee, who is godfather to four-year-old Archie, and his brother Tom, also made an appearance at the picnic. But close relatives of the royal family – including Harry’s father Charles and his brother William – were not in attendance.

But on Sunday, it is thought that the Sussex family celebrated in an intimate get-together at their Los Angeles home.

Last year, William and Kate, the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, wished Lilibet a happy birthday in a Twitter post. At the time of writing, they have not done the same for her second birthday.

The Sussexes have had a turbulent year, given the Queen’s passing, the release of their Netflix documentary, Harry’s memoir Spare and King Charles’s coronation last month. Also last month, Harry and Meghan were involved in a “near catastrophic” car chase across the streets of New York City, according to a spokesperson.

Representatives of the Sussexes have not commented on how they celebrated the special day at the time of writing.

While the Sussexes keep their family life relatively private, they have shown moments of Lilibet’s upbringing in their Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan. In several clips, Lilibet can be seen crawling and taking her steps and being cuddled by her parents.

Earlier this year, Lilibet was christened in the Episcopal Church, a province in the Anglican Communion, in a private ceremony at her parents’ home on 3 March 2023 by John H Taylor, the Bishop of Los Angeles.

Upon the accession of King Charles III, following the death of the children’s grandmother in September 2022, Lilibet received the title of Princess, while her brother Archie, four, became a Prince.

The official British website of the royal family was updated to refer to “Prince Archie of Sussex” and “Princess Lilibet of Sussex” on 9 March 2023. It was reported that any titles would be used in formal settings, but not in everyday conversations.