Prince Archie: The Public Timeline Behind His Royal Title

Composite of Harry and Meghan with newborn Archie and a separate photograph of the couple with Archie as an infant — Source: Dominic Lipinski/WPA Pool & Getty Images/Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage — Composite of separate archival photographs, not a single occasion.

Prince Archie was introduced to the world as Harry and Meghan’s first baby in May 2019. Seven years later, his name appears on the royal family’s succession list as Prince Archie of Sussex. Between those two milestones are a younger sister, a change of reign and a handful of family stories his parents have shared publicly.

Harry and Meghan’s first child

Harry and Meghan married at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, on May 19, 2018. Their son arrived less than a year later, on May 6, 2019. Buckingham Palace announced that Meghan had given birth at 5:26 a.m., that Harry had been present and that mother and baby were doing well. The announcement gave his weight as 7 pounds, 3 ounces.

The name announced in 2019

Harry and Meghan seated with Archie as an infant — Source: Toby Melville/Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images — Archival photograph of Archie as an infant, not a current portrait.

The couple named their son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. The royal family’s account of his first introduction uses that full name. Readers looking back at coverage from 2019 will therefore find him identified differently from the Prince Archie of Sussex listed today. His birth and the later change of reign provide the dates needed to follow that part of the story.

Where he sits in the succession

William and Catherine with their children George, Charlotte and Louis on a balcony — Source: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images — Archival family photograph; William and Catherine’s three children include their daughter Charlotte.

The royal family’s current succession list puts Archie sixth, immediately behind his father. Ahead of Harry are Prince William and William and Catherine’s three children: George, Charlotte and Louis. Archie’s younger sister, Lilibet, follows him in seventh place. It is easy to lose a generation in that list. Archie is King Charles III’s grandson through Harry, while William is his uncle and the three Wales children are his cousins.

Meeting Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in an archival photograph — Source: Wikimedia Commons — Archival photograph of Elizabeth II and Philip, not a photograph of their first meeting with Archie.

On May 8, 2019, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip met their eighth great-grandchild at Windsor. Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, was also there. The royal family’s account records that introduction separately from another familiar royal tradition: the birth announcement displayed on an easel in Buckingham Palace’s forecourt for about 24 hours. Those are two different parts of the public record, even when photographs of them appear together in retrospective coverage.

A change in his parents’ royal roles

Close view of Archie as an infant sitting with Meghan — Source: Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage — Archival photograph of Archie as an infant.

Archie was still a baby when Harry and Meghan announced in January 2020 that they intended to step back from their roles as senior royals. Buckingham Palace’s January 18 statement set out the arrangement: they would step back from royal duties and no longer receive public funds for those duties. The new model was to take effect that spring. Their decision changed Archie’s family circumstances, while his place in the succession remained a separate matter.

The toddler who interrupted Zoom

Illustrative stock photograph of a woman using a laptop with an adult and baby in the background — Source: Freepik — Illustrative stock photograph, not Harry, Meghan or an actual Sussex family Zoom call.

In his April 2022 TODAY interview with Hoda Kotb, Harry described the difficulty of separating work from parenting when both happened in the same place. Archie, he said, interrupted Zoom calls—and could also help bring those calls to an end. It is a recognizable detail from life with a small child, but it belongs to that interview, when Archie was two. It is not a new account of his routine.

Becoming a big brother

Illustrative stock photograph of two children together on a bed — Source: Freepik — Illustrative stock photograph, not Archie and Lilibet.

Archie’s sister, Lilibet Diana, was born on June 4, 2021. Harry and Meghan’s announcement explained both parts of her name: Lilibet was Queen Elizabeth II’s family nickname, and Diana honored Harry’s mother. Archie had turned two the month before her birth. With Lilibet’s arrival, he became the older of Harry and Meghan’s two children.

Why the prince title matters

Meghan speaking at a lectern in an archival photograph — Source: Wikimedia — Archival photograph of Meghan; no date or occasion is assigned here.

Charles became King in September 2022, making Archie a grandson of the reigning sovereign through the sovereign’s son. George V’s 1917 letters patent included the children of a sovereign’s sons among those entitled to the princely dignity. The wording is more specific than saying every grandchild automatically receives the same title. Today, the official succession page identifies both children as Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.

How Harry has talked about Diana

Harry and Meghan with Archie as an infant in an archival family photograph — Source: Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage — Archival photograph of Archie as an infant, not an image of him at age seven.

Harry also discussed his late mother in that 2022 TODAY interview. Asked whether he told Archie about her, he said he did and described photographs of Diana at home. It was Harry’s own account of introducing his son to a grandmother he never met. Keeping that interview attached to the story avoids confusing it with separate family footage released later in the couple’s Netflix documentary.

Family footage on Netflix

Illustrative stock photograph of young people watching television — Source: Freepik — Illustrative stock photograph, not the Sussex children or a scene from Harry & Meghan.

Harry & Meghan, the six-part Netflix documentary directed by Liz Garbus, began streaming in December 2022. It gave viewers another account of the couple’s life, told with their participation and including personal photographs and footage. A documentary has its own choices about what to show. Its release date also matters: scenes from that series should be understood as part of the family’s earlier story, rather than a live window into the children’s lives.

A childhood still unfolding

Illustrative stock photograph of two pilots in a cockpit — Source: Freepik — Illustrative stock photograph, not Harry or Archie and not a prediction of Archie’s future career.

Archie turned seven on May 6, 2026. The baby photographs, toddler anecdotes and documentary scenes remain part of his public history, even as he grows beyond the ages they show. His title and place in the succession can be checked against official records. His future is still ahead of him, and the limited stories his parents have chosen to share do not supply a complete account of his childhood.