Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are celebrating daughter Princess Lilibet’s fourth birthday today – and mum Meghan took to her Instagram account to share a sweet post to her ‘beautiful girl’

Meghan Markle has marked her daughter’s birthday with a gushing tribute (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Meghan Markle has marked her daughter’s fourth birthday with a gushing tribute and unseen family photos. The Duchess of Sussex took to Instagram on today to share two black and white photos with her daughter, Lilibet.

One showed Meghan holding Lilibet close during a recent boat trip, and another from when the princess was just a baby snuggled close to her mum. Meghan wrote the caption: “Happy birthday to our beautiful girl! 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!”

The Duchess of Sussex shared one photo holding Princess Lilibet close during a windy boat trip(Image: meghan/Instagram)

The duchess usually only shares photos of her daughter pictured from behind to protect her privacy, but in the more recent photo, Lili’s eyes and the top half of her face could be seen, with her nose and mouth and the rest of her face covered by Meghan’s arms as she hugged the princess.

It’s likely that Prince Harry and Meghan will be throwing a party for their daughter to mark her special day. However, one relative who will miss out on any celebration is Lilibet’s grandfather, the King. Last month, Harry dropped a bombshell when he revealed his father no longer speaks to him after losing a Court of Appeal challenge over his security arrangements while in the UK.

It comes as Lilibet is only known to have met her grandfather once – with the emotional meeting coming three years ago when Harry and Meghan brought their children to the UK for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

And former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond believes the fact that the King will probably not see Lilibet for her birthday is “incredibly sad”. She told the Mirror : “Her birthday is mid-week, so I assume it will be a school day for Lilibet, but I’m sure there’ll be time for a tea party or celebration of some kind.

“Kids’ birthdays are always fun and I think Meghan is the sort of person who will put a great deal of effort and care into making the day extremely magical for her little girl.

The second photo that Meghan shared showed her holding a baby Lilibet(Image: meghan/Instagram)

“I’m sure it will all be picture perfect. Having just celebrated the fourth birthday of my own granddaughter – the smiles, the laughter, the love and the fun – I can only imagine the pain that Charles must feel when he thinks about all he is missing. These are years and occasions that cannot be relived and, once passed, they are gone forever. It’s incredibly sad.”

Meanwhile, Lilibet’s birthday comes as she features more and more on mum Meghan’s Instagram account. Both Harry and Meghan have carefully guarded their children’s privacy – and even shots shown on social media are curated to make sure they don’t show either Archie or Lilibet’s full faces.

And Jennie added: “I suppose Meghan is showing the children more on Instagram because she knows there is a public appetite for photos of them. But she’s being very coy about allowing us to see what they really look like.

“That’s fair enough, if she wants to protect their privacy – though you could certainly argue that there’s a very fine line between using them to publicise her Instagram account and her determination to keep their family life private.

“With both children at school, she and Harry will obviously have a bit more time to pursue their various activities. Meghan seems to be ramping up her projects more and more, but I think they will both continue to put their family first – just like William and Catherine. And there’s nothing wrong with that if you are lucky enough to be able to do so.”

Lilibet, the King’s youngest grandchild, was born on June 4, 2021, in California. She was named Lilibet Diana, paying tribute to her great-grandmother, the late Queen, and her grandmother, Princess Diana. She is seventh in line to the throne and unlike her older brother Archie has never lived in the UK – only visiting once.

She only became entitled to be a princess when her grandfather the King acceded to the throne, because of rules set out by King George V in 1917. Harry and Meghan started using prince and princess for Archie and Lili after the princess’s christening in 2023, following correspondence with Charles about the matter.

Yesterday, Meghan expressed her dream of launching a future business with Lili as she chatted to Beyonce’s mother Tina Knowles on her podcast.

“I wonder if one day I’ll be in business with Lili and we’ll be building something,” the duchess said, with Knowles adding: “That’s the best.” Last week, the duchess shared a clip of her and her daughter beekeeping in matching protective suits, writing: “Harvesting honey with my little honey. (Like mother, like daughter; she’s even wearing my gloves).”