Britain's Duchess of Sussex is celebrating her 40th birthday following a turbulent 12 months.
Meghan and Harry are likely to have planned a low-key celebration as they are reportedly taking time off to care for the latest addition to their family, baby Lili who is a little sister to their son Archie.
Daughter Lilibet was born exactly two months ago on June 4th after the duchess experienced the heartbreak of a miscarriage a few weeks before her 39th birthday last year.
The Sussexes have established a new life for themselves in the celebrity enclave of Montecito in California, buying a multimillion-pound home and launching a non-profit foundation.
Harry and Meghan have also signed lucrative deals – thought to be worth well over £100 million (€117 million) – with Spotify and Netflix that have given them the capital to pursue their new lifestyle and public goals.
Much has been written about their decision to step down as senior British royals for personal and financial freedom early last year – dubbed Megxit.
But it was only when the couple sat down for their much-anticipated television interview with Oprah Winfrey in March did they tell the world their side of the story.
The couple left the royal family in crisis with a series of shocking revelations that painted the monarchy as a racist and uncaring institution.
Meghan and Harry laid bare their brief lives as a working royal couple, alleging a member of the family – not the Queen or Prince Philip – made a racist comment about their son, and how the duchess had suicidal thoughts but her approaches to the monarchy for help were turned down.
Winfrey was left opened mouthed when the duchess – the first mixed-race member of the modern monarchy – said a fellow royal was worried about how dark their son Archie’s skin tone might be before he was born.
Harry is to pen his own tell-all memoir and has promised to write an “accurate and wholly truthful” account of his life.
