16 Of The Most Memorable Royal Family Moments Of 2019
From births and royal tours, here are the best royal moments over the last 12 months
The royal family have enjoyed a pretty memorable 2019.
In May, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry welcomed their son Archie Harrison into the world, in amidst breaking royal households from Prince William and Kate Middleton and moving to Frogmore House. Months later, Prince George celebrated his sixth birthday, Princess Charlotte attended her first day of school at Thomas's Battersea and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Pakistan.
From royal tours and births, here are our favourite royal moments over the last 12 months:
April - Kate Middleton shares photos of one-year-old Prince Louis
To celebrate Prince Louis’ first birthday, Kate Middleton unveiled private photos of the toddler on the Kensington Royal Instagram account, taken by her at their home in Norfolk.
In the snap, the fair headed royal wears a blue knitted jumper with a dog on the front and a blue shirt. Another showed the tot in a burgundy-hued jumper smiling at the camera.
April - Prince Harry and Meghan Markle move to Windsor
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.
May - Royal 'Fab Four' split households
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.
May - Prince Harry and Meghan Markle welcome baby boy
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced the arrival of their son, Archie Harrison Mountabatten-Windsor.
The couple took to Instagram to reveal the news to the world, explaining that their son arrived in the early morning on 6 May and mother and son were both ‘healthy and well’.
May - Prince Harry and Meghan Markle show Archie to the world
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.
May - Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announce Archie's name
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.
July - Beyoncé meets Meghan Markle
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.
July - Kensington Palace celebrates Prince George's sixth birthday
Kensington Palace released several pictures to celebrate Prince George’s sixth birthday.
The photos, taken by his mother Kate Middleton, sees the royal posing in the garden of their home in Kensington Palace wearing an England football shirt.
The photos were believed to have been taken around the time the England Lionesses were playing in the Women’s World Cup.
July - Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton attend Wimbledon 2019
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.
September - Princess Charlotte's attends first day of school
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.
September - Meghan Markle launches Smart Works collection
Meghan Markle launched her capsule work collection with the women’s organisation Smart Works.
The 38-year-old partnered with several British high street brands including Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Jigsaw to help the charity, which supports unemployed women through interview coaching and personalised styling.
‘For each item purchased by a customer, one is donated to charity. Not only does this allow us to be part of each other’s story, it reminds us we are in it together,’ she said of the one-for-one system.
September - Prince Harry and Meghan Markle launch travel initiative
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.
October - Prince Harry condemns British press
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.’
October - Meghan Markle admits she's not 'ok'
Meghan Markle spoke on camera for the first time about the hardships and press intrusion she’s faced since becoming a royal. During an interview with ITV and ABC's Tom Bradby for the documentary Harry and Meghan: An African Journey, the new mum became emotional when asked about how she is adapting to a lifestyle that now includes extreme media scrutiny.
'Especially as a woman it's really - it's a lot,' Markle says. 'So you add this on top of just trying to be a new Mum and trying to be a newlywed.'
And also thank you for asking, because not many people will have asked if I'm OK,' Meghan added. 'But it's a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes.'
October - Kate Middleton nails Pakistan tour wardrobe
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.’
November - Kate Middleton responds to Camilla Cabello's pen stealing
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.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
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