16 Of The Most Memorable Royal Family Moments Of 2019

After much speculation, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle finally moved into Frogmore Cottage in Windsor a month before the Duchess gave birth to her son, Archie Harrison.

The couple, who previously lived at Kensington Palace, have since spent £2.4m on refurbishing their new home. The 18th century Grade-II listed house, which is located close to Windsor Castle, is believed to have required extensive renovation to make it habitable for the new family.

Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton, and Prince William split their royal households (ie their offices) but all remained members of the Royal Foundation charity.

In the weeks that followed, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex launched their own household Sussex Royal, which included having their own Instagram account.

On Tuesday 2 April, the couple broke the Guinness World Record for reaching one million followers in just five hours and 45 minutes.

After giving birth to her son, who weighted 7lbs and 3oz, the couple invited a small British media crew, including one television camera, photographer and reporter from the Press Association, to Windsor Castle for a photocall two days after Archie’s arrival.

For the occasion, the baby wore a tiny white hat and white blanket while his mother wore a sleeveless white Grace Wales Bonner dress with button details and a belt at the waist.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced that they had called their son Archie Harrison Mountabtten-Windsor.

The news came via their official Instagram account in which the couple revealed that Her Majesty was one of the first royals to have visited the newborn, who is her eighth great-grandchild.

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Jay-Z and Beyoncé finally met at the Lion King European premiere.

The Duchess of Sussex wore a black Jason Wu dress with sheer sleeves for the occasion and was filmed chatting with Beyoncé ahead of the premiere about their babies.

'The best advice I can give you, always find time for yourself,' Jay-Z told the royals.

The A-list encounter came weeks after the famous musicians revealed a painted portrait of Markle during their Brits acceptance speech.

Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton made a rare outing together at Wimbledon to watch the Women's Singles final together.

The Duchesses were spotted seated in the Royal Box to watch Markle’s BFF Serena Williams fight her eighth Wimbledon title against Romanian player Simona Halep on Centre Court.

The duo were joined by the Duchess of Cambridge’s sister, Pippa Middleton, who also recently became a mother.

Prince William, Kate Middleton and Prince George were spotted walking Princess Charlotte to school on her first day at Thomas's Battersea.

Later that day, Kensington Palace released a photograph on Instagram of the two schoolchildren, taken shortly before Charlotte’s first day at the school, in which the siblings put their arms round each other.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle launched their sustainable travel initiative, Travalyst, with the aim of changing the way people travel.

The news came days after the couple were criticised for flying privately on holiday over the summer while simultaneously campaigning against the climate crisis.

'I spend 99 per cent of my life travelling the world by commercial,' the father-of-one told reporters on the day of Travalyst’s launch. 'Occasionally, there needs to be an opportunity based on a unique circumstance to ensure that my family are safe. It's genuinely as simple as that.'

During his speech, Harry also reportedly made a point saying that 'while no one is perfect, we are all responsible for our own individual impact; the question is what we do to balance it out'.

Sir Elton John, who was a close friend of Prince Harry’s late mother Diana Princess of Wales, staunchly defended the royals’ use of private jets and admitted that he paid for and organised for them to travel in a jet to his home in Nice in order to ‘maintain a high level of much-needed protection’. He later made a donation to offset the couple’s carbon emissions.

Prince Harry issued a statement expressing his family’s distress over his wife Meghan Markle becoming a target for the British tabloid press and the vilification she has endured ‘almost daily for the past nine months’.

The statement, which appears on the couple’s official website Sussex Official, details the media criticism and intrusion the new mother received during her pregnancy and maternity leave.

‘As a couple, we believe in media freedom and objective, truthful reporting,’ the statement reads.

‘We regard it as a cornerstone of democracy and in the current state of the world – on every level – we have never needed responsible media more. Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences – a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son.’

Kate Middleton showed off her beautiful wardrobe during her official visit of Pakistan with her husband, Prince William, in October.

During the occasion, the mother-of-three wore several Shalwar Kameezes, a sequinned Jenny Packham dress with a matching dupatta and a tunic by Catherine Walker.

In December, the Duchess sent a sweet ‘thank you’ note to Pakistani fashion designer Maheen Khan and her team for designing several key pieces of her royal tour wardrobe.

‘I am so grateful to you and your team for designing such a wonderful selection to choose from – although having so many beautiful things did make decision making a little more difficult!’ an excerpt of the card read.

‘I really enjoyed wearing both of your outfits – and the trousers were such a great fit too. So thank you for all the time and effort put in to everything.’

Kate Middleton responded to news that singer Camila Cabello admitted to taking a pencil from Kensington Palace.

BBC Radio One breakfast show presenter Greg James dared the singer to seal a pencil from the royal household during her visit, much to the surprise of the Duchess of Sussex.

After Radio One's Twitter account shared the clip of Cabello and James' discussion about the experience on the social media platform, the official Kensington Palace Twitter account responded with a simple-yet-clear side-eye emoji.

Kate is watching, people.