Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s daughter, Princess Lilibet, will celebrate her third birthday on June 4, just weeks after the duchess paid a fashion tribute to her youngest child during a visit to Nigeria.
Meghan and Harry visited Abuja and Lagos in Nigeria from May 10 to 12 at the invitation of the country’s chief of defense staff, in connection with the Invictus Games.
During the trip, Meghan gave a brief speech at the State Governor House in Lagos where she had received an official welcome with Harry. The speech took place on May 12 which was Mother’s Day back in the U.S.
“I am very, very grateful, I am very humbled, and today is Mother’s Day,” she said during an impromptu moment on stage.
“So it feels appropriate—but though of course we are missing our children, I’m missing my babies—but it feels very appropriate to be in the motherland and amongst family. So thank you so much for the kindness and for these beautiful names [in reference to a presentation that had taken place that day]. I’m very grateful and we can’t wait to come back.”
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In addition to referencing emotion at being separated from her children, Meghan also paid a tribute to Lilibet through her choice of dress for the occasion.
The duchess wore a striking canary yellow sleeveless column gown designed by Carolina Herrera which had previously been worn during a photoshoot announcing her pregnancy with her daughter three years earlier.
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Meghan announced that she was expecting Lilibet on Valentine’s Day 2021, with a photography session alongside Prince Harry shot by friend, Misan Harriman.
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The session took place remotely at the couple’s Montecito home during the COVID pandemic with Harriman directing the couple via an iPad.
The image, showing the couple sitting beneath a sprawling tree, was released in black and white so that the vivid color of Meghan’s dress wasn’t easily identifiable.
Her choice to re-wear the piece on Mother’s Day just weeks ahead of her daughter’s third birthday was a touching tribute to the young princess.
Harry and Meghan have prioritized the privacy of their children since their split from the monarchy in 2020, keeping them largely out of the public eye. They made an exception to this for their Netflix show Harry & Meghan in 2022, where they released for the first time intimate home movies and photos charting their children’s early years.
So far, Lilibet has not been officially photographed with her parents at a public event, however, the couple released an official portrait of their daughter to mark her first birthday back in 2022. This portrait was also taken by Harriman.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
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