Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are reportedly at odds over how to mark Prince Archie’s birthday next week.
The young prince will turn seven on Wednesday, May 6, and the Duchess of Sussex, 44, is said to want to keep with royal tradition and release a formal picture of him.
However, the Duke of Sussex, 41, disagrees and would rather maintain Archie and Princess Lilibet’s privacy for as long as possible.
“This isn’t the first time this conflict has come up – and there are times it’s been Meghan holding Harry back from showing off pictures of their kids,” a source told New Idea.
“But Meghan thinks it’s the perfect time to release a formal set of pictures of Archie for his birthday – especially now her Archie candle’s been released.”
Last week, on the back of the Sussexes’ tour of Australia, Meghan launched candles inspired by her two children as part of As Ever’s new Mother’s Day collection.
Archie’s candle is named Signature Candle No. 506 in a nod to his birthdate.
“However, Harry’s starting to worry about Archie and Lilibet losing their titles if they keep pushing the lines between being royalty and monetising it,” the source continued.
“He’s also fearful of trolls and putting a target mark on their young son’s back.
“He’s got enough to deal with – plastering his picture to the world online is going to change his life and not necessarily in a good way.”
It comes after Prince William and Princess Catherine released a new portrait of their youngest son, Prince Louis, to mark his eighth birthday last week.
The photograph was taken during the Waleses’ recent family holiday in Cornwall and shows the cheeky royal smiling at the camera whilst crossing his arms.
Kensington Palace also shared a video of Louis on the beach, where he is seen running along the sand, jumping into the sea and playing cricket.
“Happy birthday, Louis! 8 today!” the picture was captioned, while the video said: “Thank you for all the birthday wishes for Prince Louis. 8 is great!”
Over the weekend, there were suggestions that, once he’s King, William could strip the Sussexes of their royal titles should Harry and Meghan continue to “exploit their royal status to earn money”.
Royal biographer Tom Bower claimed their highly-publicised Australia trip, which included a mix of paid appearances with charitable engagements, has “taken them one step closer” to losing their titles.
“When William’s King, I think he will strip them of their titles, because it’s hugely damaging to the Royal Family,” Bower wrote in his new book, Betrayal.
“It might look spiteful, but the majority of Britons would support it. They’re sick to death of seeing Harry and Meghan exploit their royal titles.”