Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Share the First Photo of Daughter Lilibet with Archie

Just as Christmas card season comes to a close, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have upstaged the rest of the royals by sharing the first-ever public photo of their six-month-old daughter Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. “This year, 2021, we welcomed our daughter, Lilibet, to the world,” the couple said in a message accompanying the photo, which was was taken at their home in Santa Barbara, California over the summer. “Archie made us a ‘Mama’ and a ‘Papa,’ and Lili made us a family.” (The former, who is now two years old, is looking like his father in miniature these days with curly red mop.) The couple went on to note that on behalf of the public, they’ve donated to a number of family-oriented organizations, “from those being relocated from Afghanistan, to American families in need of paid parental leave.”

It’s hard to believe that we had yet to get a glimpse of Lilibet until now, given just how the infant has been in the news in the six months she’s been on Earth. For starters, there was Meghan and Harry’s announcement that they had named her Lilibet Diana in honor of Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and late mother. (Unsurprisingly, certain corners of the “royal expert” industrial complex seized the opportunity to criticize the couple; apparently, in paying homage to the queen, they were being “rude.”) Sadly, the two Lilibets will have to spend what would have been their first Christmases together apart. Earlier this week, Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen has canceled the royals’ usual festivities, citing concerns of the spreading Omicron Covid variant.

For fans of the Sussexes, the photo makes for quite the Christmas gift. Harry and Meghan are fiercely protective of their privacy, and especially so when it comes to their children. Last holiday season, which marked their first post-”Megxit” and move to California, they eschewed a photo featuring their then one-year-old son Archie and two dogs in favor of an illustration.