Royal Family Fails to Publicly Acknowledge Prince Archie's 5th Birthday as Feud With Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Worsens

Prince Archie turned 5 on Monday, May 6, but the royal family failed to acknowledge the youngster's special day.

In the past, Queen Elizabeth wished Meghan Markle a happy birthday in 2022, but in August of 2023, a royal aide claimed only working members of the family would receive a celebratory post going forward.

Since leaving the royal fold in 2020, Meghan and Prince Harry have been focused on developing their careers in Hollywood while raising Archie and Princess Lilibet in Montecito, Calif. OK! previously reported Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell thinks the Duchess of Sussex wants to develop her personal brand.

“I’ve always said Meghan has her eye on a bigger gain; this isn’t the bigger gain. I’ve always said she has had her eye on politics," Burrell told an outlet. “She is trying everything she can to make as much money as she can to support their lifestyle.”

“Again, they are going against the royal family’s wishes,'' the former royal employee said. "Queen Elizabeth specifically said ‘do not use your royal titles for commercial gain’ and that is exactly what they are doing.”

In 2023, the Sussexes lost their lucrative deal with Spotify, which led to an executive labeling the duo as "grifters."

“They are making up their own rules as they go along. As long as they can make money they will try everything,” Burrell added.

In March, Meghan returned to social media to promote her new lifestyle company, American Riviera Orchard, and royal commentator Kinsey Schofield discussed the mom-of-two's professional pivot during a television appearance.

“I believe she's trying to build an empire. I don't know if that’s what she was going to do originally when she left the British royal family," Schofield told GB News.

“Remember, they told us that she was going to be living a life of service," Schofield pointed out. "Polling-wise, this has been very difficult for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. People in the States have an issue with them."

Aside from American Riviera Orchard, Meghan is developing a cooking series for Netflix.

“Did they have to go down this path, basically using Netflix to create content to kind of try to build this empire of gardening and what's going on in the kitchen, but also giving Netflix ultimately what they want, which is that reality show element," the podcaster stated.

“That was their only commercial success, with the Harry and Meghan documentary series," Schofield noted. “This is her dipping her toe still in reality TV but also having cameras in her face and being able to push her own products.”