Happy birthday Archie! As the young royal turns five today – how Harry and Meghan’s son enjoys a gilded life helping to pick oranges and chasing seagulls near his parents’ California mansion

When he was born a week overdue at an exclusive London hospital five years ago today, he was, according to his beaming father, ‘absolutely to die for’.

Prince Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor weighed 7lb 3oz and was born at 5.26am in a room adorned with electric candles and a picture of Princess Diana.

Initial pictures released two days later showed him being introduced to the late Queen and Prince Philip – his great-grandparents – and Doria Ragland, his grandmother.

Speaking from Windsor on the day his son was born, Prince Harry delightedly said that Archie’s birth was ‘the most amazing experience I could ever have possibly imagined.’

Prince Archie, who turns five today, seen with his parents Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and his younger sister Lilibet in 2021

Prince Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor weighed 7lb 3oz and was born at 5.26am in a room adorned with electric candles and a picture of Princess Diana 

Archie is seen sitting on his father’s shoulders in an image that was revealed in Harry and Meghan’s Netflix documentary

But, because of the royal rift that sparked his and Meghan’s move to California, he only spent the first five months of his life in the UK.

It has meant that, as the duke previously said, the US feels like ‘home’ for him.

Details of Archie’s gilded life with his younger sister Lilibet, two, were revealed in Harry and Meghan’s Netflix documentary series last year.

He was seen chasing seagulls at the beach, helping his parents pick oranges in the garden and playing with his two beloved family dogs – Labrador Pula and a Beagle called Guy.

Archie was previously revealed to be attending pre-school and is set to start full-time education when he turns six. He could also be enrolled in kindergarten in the autumn now that he is five.

When Meghan was in labour at the private Portland Hospital, Harry revealed that he used the laughing gas meant for his wife to calm his nerves, and said the couple’s bodyguards delivered them a takeaway Nando’s.

The pair also listened to songs by German artist Deva Premal, who turned Sanskrit mantras into music, during the delivery.

When the contractions quickened, Meghan hopped in a bathtub to deliver the baby and had an epidural to help with the pain of labour.

Harry said he held Meghan’s hand as she pushed to deliver Archie, and revealed she had a complicated birth, describing his son’s head as being ‘tangled’.

Archie walks along the beach with his mother and their pet beagle, Guy

Archie plays with a toy grand piano in an image that was revealed in Harry and Meghan’s Netflix documentary

Archie with his mother Meghan on his first birthday in 2020. He turned five today

Archie with his mother during her royal tour of South Africa with her husband Prince Harry

Once Archie was born, both his parents wept with joy. His first home was Frogmore Cottage near Windsor Castle.

A clip from the Netflix series showed him gazing up to his father from a baby rocker, whilst a photo showed him gazing up at his nanny Lorren Khumalo, who had wrapped him in a yellow and brown cloth – traditional in Zimbabwe.

Another emotive clip of the young royal showed Archie reaching to touch a photo of his late grandmother Princess Diana on his nursery wall in Frogmore Cottage.

Meghan was hear saying: ‘Who’s that? Hey grandma.’

In October 2019, Prince Harry and Meghan announced that they would be taking six weeks off royal duties for some ‘family time’ with their newborn.

They travelled to Canada, staying for a period on Vancouver Island.

By January the follow year, however, the pair said they would ‘step back as senior members of the Royal Family’ splitting their time between the UK and North America.

By March 2020, just before the pandemic sent many parts of the world into lockdowns, the couple and their young son had moved to Los Angeles.

In July that year, they moved into their Santa Barbara home, in Montecito, which reportedly cost them $14 million.

The home is close to their celebrity friend Oprah Winfrey, as well as other showbiz stars such as Ellen DeGeneres, Katy Perry and her husband Orlando Bloom.

Meghan and Harry beam as they show their newborn son to the world in St George’s Hall at Windsor Castle

Harry and Meghan show baby Archie to his great-grandparents, the late Queen and Prince Philip, and his maternal grandmother Doria Ragland

Archie on the day of his christening in July 2019 with his parents and (from left to right) Queen Camilla, King Charles, Doria Ragland, Lady Jane Fellowes, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales

Harry and Meghan’s 11-bed mansion sprawls over 20 acres of land, between the Santa Ynez mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

On June 4, 2021, the family welcomed Archie’s younger sister Lilibet, who will turn three in less than a month.

In an interview with The Cut magazine, Meghan told how Archie enjoyed pretending to be a doctor with a toy stethoscope and said one of his favourite things to eat is a quesadilla.

Other footage from the Netflix series shows the young royal showing off his musical talent, tinkling away on a tiny piano.

He is also seen calling a sunset ‘beautiful’ and watching a hummingbird with his father.

‘We won’t get a chance to be this close to hummingbirds ever again,’ Prince Harry told his son.

Despite asking his toddler to stay quiet and watch the wildlife, the toddler then exclaimed: ‘I’ve got a dirty foot mama because I was with you!’

When his great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022, Archie and Lilibet remained in California and were cared for by their maternal grandmother, Doria Ragland, and their nannies.

Baby Archie seen in the arms of his grandmother Doria Ragland as she sits alongside Meghan and Harry at Frogmore Cottage

Prince Archie is not believed to have spent any birthdays with his British family.

Before Archie’s arrival, Meghan had a glitzy New York shower hosted by Serena Williams at The Mark, a plush uptown hotel.

Guests including Amal Clooney and Gayle King enjoyed a flower-arranging class.

The five-day celebration, which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, provoked criticism when it emerged that Meghan had flown to New York on a private jet.