Princess Charlotte’s birthday photo features special nod to two royals - and one of them is Meghan Markle

Princess Charlotte’s birthday photo featured a special nod to two royals - and one of them is her aunt Meghan Markle. 

• The Prince and Princess of Wales unveiled a new picture of Princess Charlotte to mark her 8th birthday on May 2.
• Her dress is covered with a beautiful floral pattern and one of the flowers looks very like one with a connection to both Meghan Markle and Princess Diana.
• This royal news comes as Prince William and Kate Middleton’s new photo showed time really flies when you’re in love as fans praised their “PDA” moment. 

Over the years fans have come to expect a special new birthday photo to be released by the Prince and Princess of Wales to mark Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis birthdays and so far in 2023 they haven’t disappointed! Prince Louis’ birthday photos were an adorable departure from tradition but for Princess Charlotte their proud mom was once again behind the camera. 

She paid tribute to Princess Charlotte’s 8th birthday with a snap of her sitting in a white wicker chair, grinning broadly. And there’s a special detail in Princess Charlotte’s birthday photo that could be seen as a nod to two royals - including Meghan Markle.

As we’ve seen with other Wales birthday photos, the picture was released the day before Princess Charlotte turned 8 on May 2. And whilst fans might have been quick to remark upon the young royal’s resemblance to a certain family member, Princess Charlotte’s birthday photo also features a special detail some might’ve missed. 

For this sweet snap Princess Charlotte wore a white dress that screamed springtime chic with its beautiful floral motif and fun frilled collar. However, one of the flowers in the repeated pattern is particularly interesting. Featured prominently on the dress - including on the bottom left of the collar and almost central on the bodice - is what looks to be a forget-me-not. 

With five characteristic blue petals around a pale yellow center whether or not these are intended to be forget-me-nots, they certainly look an awful lot like them. These tiny blooms can also be white and featured in Meghan Markle’s wedding bouquet when she tied the knot with Prince Harry at Windsor Castle in 2018. As per Town&Country, at the time Kensington Palace explained in a statement that Prince Harry had picked the forget-me-nots for his wife-to-be’s bouquet himself.

And their possible inclusion in Princess Charlotte’s birthday photo on her dress could not only be seen as a link to Meghan, but to Princess Diana - for the same reason the Sussexes’ wanted it in the bouquet.

"The spring blooms include Forget-Me-Nots which were Diana, Princess of Wales’ favorite flower. The couple specifically chose them to be included in Ms. Markle’s bouquet to honor the memory of the late Princess on this special day,” the statement continued.

Forget-me-nots hold a special place in Prince Harry and Meghan’s hearts as Princess Diana loved them, inspiring their wedding day choice. Princess Charlotte's father Prince William will no doubt also be aware of how much his mom loved them and could also share fondness for Princess Diana's favorite flowers.

If the blue five-petal flowers on Princess Charlotte’s dress were designed to be forget-me-nots then this makes this dress even more special as it's also linked to the grandmother she tragically never got to meet. However, even if the flowers aren’t intended to be anything specific, their resemblance to these real royal favorites could still be seen to create this super sweet association in Princess Charlotte's birthday photo.