Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are spreading cheer this vacation season with their youngsters, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
On Dec. 16, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex unveiled their 2024 vacation card, that includes a brand new image of their children, Archie, 5, and Lilibet, 3. The shot — one among six within the multi-photo greeting — captures the kids from behind as they excitedly run towards their dad and mom.
Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet look extra grown up than ever within the picture, which incorporates the household’s three canine. The card present Meghan smiling in direction of Archie and Harry squatting to greet Lili, confirming his latest feedback about her lengthy hair — purple, similar to her older brother’s.
“On behalf of the workplace of Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Archewell Productions and Archewell Foundation,” the cardboard’s message mentioned on a deep inexperienced background. The montage featured 5 different pictures of Prince Harry, 40, and Meghan, 43, throughout their journeys to Nigeria and Colombia this yr. “We want you a really completely satisfied vacation season and a joyful new yr.”
It’s a uncommon glimpse of the children, who have been final seen after they have been briefly proven within the couple’s docuseries Harry & Meghan, which debuted on Netflix in December 2022.
PEOPLE understands that whereas this card is supposed for skilled use, the household has despatched a separate, non-public card to their shut family and friends, which is not going to be shared publicly.
Over the summer time, a buddy instructed PEOPLE that Harry was keen to maintain his youngsters’s lives non-public to guard them.
“Harry has been reluctant to indicate his youngsters publicly, not out of a want to cover them however to guard their privateness and security from potential threats. He needs them to guide as regular a life as potential with out the worry of kidnapping or hurt,” the buddy mentioned.
“As a dad and husband, Harry is decided to make sure that historical past doesn’t repeat itself,” the buddy added, referring to the destiny of Harry’s mom, Princess Diana.
This yr, the couple continued custom by together with The Archewell Foundation of their season’s greetings. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex established the charity as a car for his or her philanthropic work in 2020, and have concerned Archewell within the launch of their vacation card for the final three years.
Prince Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation operates with the motto “Show Up, Do Good,” and their work with the group took them around the globe and thru the U.S. this yr. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex traveled to Nigeria in May and Colombia in August to additional Archewell’s key charitable initiatives, and the group expanded its U.S. influence with elevated programming at residence.
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This yr marked Archewell’s second yr of The Welcome Project, which helps lately resettled ladies construct neighborhood, and launch of The Parents Network, a help for households coping with the results of on-line hurt. Prince Harry and Meghan’s help for these initiatives took them on the highway, from Meghan attending Welcome Project dinners in California to Harry selling the Parents Network to advocate for change on the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City.
“It is vastly essential for us to satisfy instantly with folks, supporting our causes and listening, to be able to result in options, help and optimistic change,” Prince Harry beforehand instructed PEOPLE through the journey to Nigeria in regards to the energy of direct connection.
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“There’s solely a lot one can do from residence and over Zoom, so we stay up for touring extra as a result of the work issues. Whether it is the Archewell Foundation, Invictus or any of our different causes, there’ll all the time be causes to satisfy the folks on the coronary heart of our work,” he mentioned.
While the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not featured their youngsters in photographs chosen for the vacation playing cards they’ve shared in recent times, the couple has finished so previously. Prince Archie joined his dad and mom for the primary vacation card they issued as a household of three in 2019, and appeared within the illustration of an image, taken by Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex despatched in 2020. It depicted them within the yard of their California residence throughout their first American Christmas season since relocating from the U.Ok. to Meghan’s residence state of California.
In 2021, Prince Harry and Meghan used their vacation card to share the primary picture of their daughter, Princess Lilibet, who was born that June. The snap capturing the household of 4 additionally confirmed that Prince Archie inherited his dad’s purple hair!
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“This yr, 2021, we welcomed our daughter, Lilibet, to the world. Archie made us a ‘Mama’ and a ‘Papa’, and Lili made us a household,” learn the message partly under the picture by Alexi Lubomirski (who took the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’ official engagement portraits in 2017).
In 2022, Prince Harry and Meghan’s vacation card featured a black-and-white picture of them holding arms on the Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award Gala in New York City, the place they have been honored a couple of weeks beforehand. There, they acquired the celebrated Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award for his or her work in racial justice, psychological well being and social influence via the Archewell Foundation.
Last yr, the couple selected a glam snap of them clapping on the closing ceremony of the 2023 Invictus Games in Düsseldorf, Germany for his or her season’s greetings.
The digital greeting, despatched by way of e mail on behalf of Archewell, mentioned, “We want you a really completely satisfied vacation season. Thanks for all of the help in 2023!”
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