Meghan Markle celebrates her 39th birthday in Los Angeles

The Queen wished the Duchess of Sussex a happy 39th birthday in a public show of support for her grandson’s wife. 

The official Royal Family Instagram account posted the warm message this morning alongside a photograph of the Queen, 94, and Meghan Markle taken in 2018 at their first royal joint engagement.

The post reads: ‘Wishing The Duchess of Sussex a very happy birthday!’  

The message is a clear show of support for Meghan amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the release of the Sussexes’ biography, Finding Freedom, which claims to lay bare a rift between the couple and the rest of the Royal Family.  

The Queen did not post on Meghan’s birthday last year, suggesting specific effort has been made to present a united front amid claims the biography has displeased Her Majesty. 

The Queen, 94, wished Meghan Markle a happy 39th birthday in a public show of support amid ongoing controversy surrounding the release of the Sussexes’ biography Finding Freedom

The Duchess of Sussex is celebrating her 39th birthday after a whirlwind 12 months that has seen her life transformed. Pictured, Harry and Meghan speaking from their Los Angeles home

This year’s birthday falls amid controversy surrounding the publication of the Sussexes’ bombshell biography, Finding Freedom, which lays bare the rift between the couple and members of the Firm. 

The book, written by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durant, claims relations between the Sussexes and the Cambridges grew so bitter that by March the couples were barely speaking.

Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan moved to America with their 14-month-old son just a few weeks before the coronavirus pandemic shut down the globe, and like everyone else have been living under lockdown.

Birthday celebrations are likely to be low-key as the state of California they now call home reportedly has the highest number of Covid-19 cases in America.

A year ago Meghan Markle was a working member of the British royal family and living in the grounds of Windsor Castle with husband Harry and their son Archie. The couple stepped down from royal duties in March. Pictured, at one of their final engagements that month in London

Despite restrictions the couple have voiced their opinions about issues, especially the renewed focus on equality and race that followed the death of George Floyd in the United States.

In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement Meghan, who became the first bi-racial person to marry a senior royal, delivered an impassioned speech to her old high school following the death of Mr Floyd, sharing her ‘absolute devastation’ at racial divisions.

The issue of racial equality is expected to be a cause that forms part of their public work when the couple formally launch their new charitable organisation, Archewell, which has replaced their UK based Royal Sussex foundation which has been wound down. 

 

Last year Prince Harry wished Meghan a happy birthday in a sweet message to the Sussex Royal Instagram account 

The couple have been working behind the scenes to urge top executives across the world to stand in solidarity with groups calling for a Facebook boycott.

The duke and duchess have spoken with a number of organisations leading the Stop Hate For Profit campaign, which is calling on businesses to pause advertising on the platform over the social network’s failure to do more to remove hate speech.

A source has said: ‘As we’ve been developing Archewell, one of the areas the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been keen to address is online hate speech, and we’ve been working with civil rights and racial justice groups on it.’

From March 31, Harry and Meghan stopped using their HRH styles and ceased to be senior working royals. 

The couple’s new life in Los Angeles comes at a cost but it is not known how they will pay for their lifestyle although there has been speculation about book deals and lecture circuit contracts the couple may have signed.