From Cheeky Emojis to Rare Breaches of Protocol, Here’s How the Royal Family Wished Meghan Markle a Happy Birthday

In honor of Meghan Markle’s 38th birthday, Prince Harry penned a personal (and very sweet) note to his “amazing wife” on Instagram. When it came time for the rest of the royal family to wish the Duchess of Sussex a happy birthday, they followed suit.

The family posted a series of congratulatory posts on their public-facing Instagram accounts and shared some of their favorite photos of the duchess over the years.

Possibly the most surprising post came courtesy of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s @theroyalfamily Instagram handle.

Although it’s generally accepted that public displays of affection are frowned upon by Her Majesty, the @theroyalfamily post included a pic of Prince Harry, 34, and Markle holding hands at the Yankees-Red Sox game in London this past June. Talk about groundbreaking.

Does this mean royal PDA is now totally fine? Unfortunately, there was no mention of Queen Elizabeth’s stance on the matter in the rather formal caption, which read, “Happy Birthday to The Duchess of Sussex. The Duchess was born on this day in 1981.” 

Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles had a little more fun with their birthday post for Markle. Using the @clarencehouse handle, they shared a slideshow including a portrait of Markle taken on Canada Day, a photo of the Duchess of Sussex giggling with her father-in-law on Commonwealth Day this past March and one of her and the Duchess of Cornwall joking around at her first public appearance after her wedding.

The caption read, “A very Happy Birthday to HRH The Duchess of Sussex,” and included a cheeky party hat emoji.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge celebrated the birthday on their @kensingtonroyal IG account with a photo of the Royal Fab Four (plus Prince Charles) on Christmas Day after leaving church at Sandringham.