The special way the Queen made Sussexes feel part of the family on Archie's birthday

The Queen made sure the Sussexes felt part of the family as her great-grandson Archie celebrated his second birthday. 

• The Queen made a sweet effort to make sure Prince Harry and Meghan Markle still felt part of the royal family, as their son Archie marked his second birthday. 
• While the Sussexes, of course, celebrated Archie's milestone in LA, Her Majesty sent gifts from Windsor Castle to America for her eighth great-grandchild. 
• This royal news comes after the Queen shared a cute throwback photo on Instagram to wish Archie a happy birthday.  

While there is reportedly growing tensions between the royal family and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, following their huge interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Queen didn't let the family fall-out impact Archie's birthday celebrations. 

According to royal expert Russell Myers, the monarch sent presents over to LA ahead of Archie's big day. 

Her Majesty also lead royal family tributes to the tot on Instagram on the morning of his birthday, posting a photo of Meghan, Harry and Archie, taken days after his birth in 2018. 

"Presents have already been sent before anyone starts saying anything, presents have been sent across the pond," Russell said on ITV chat show Lorraine. 

Sharing details on how he expected Archie to spend the day, Russell, who is the Royal Editor of the Daily Mirror, joked, "I don't know what Archie is going to be up to, a big party I will imagine.

"It will be quite a low-key affair I'm told, he is two-years-old," he went on to add.

Prince Harry recently gave an insight into the kind of presents one would receive as a great-grandchild of Her Majesty, revealing that the Queen sent a waffle maker to LA for Archie's Christmas present last year.

Speaking to James Corden during his hilarious appearance on The Late Late Show, Harry said, "Interestingly, my grandmother asked us what Archie wanted for Christmas and Meg said a waffle maker.

"She sent us a waffle maker for Archie so breakfast now, Meg makes up a beautiful organic mix, in the waffle maker, flip it, out it comes, he loves it.

"Archie literally wakes up in the morning and says 'waffle'."

Due to the pandemic, the Queen has been unable to see Prince Harry, Meghan and Archie together in the flesh since they moved to the US.

Prince Harry made a brief return to Windsor last month, for the first time since his departure from royal life, in order to attend Prince Philip's funeral.

While Meghan, who is pregnant with her and Harry's second child, was unable to fly to the UK, it's believed that Harry was able to spend some time with his grandmother for the first time since he and Meg sat down with Oprah Winfrey for their explosive tell-all chat.

Harry reportedly met with the Queen privately "at least twice" when he was back in England and was also seen speaking with his brother Prince William after the funeral service at St George's Chapel.

Omid Scobie, who is the author of Meghan and Harry's biography 'Finding Freedom', reports Prince Harry did "not hold peace talks" with William and Prince Charles.

Harry is also believed to have been met with a "frosty" welcome from his royal relatives, following the claims made during the Oprah chat.

It was alleged that an unnamed member of The Firm had made racist remarks about the color of Archie's skin, reportedly "expressing concern" about "how dark" his complexion would be, ahead of his birth.

Harry also claimed that his brother and father are "trapped" in the monarchy system, while Meghan recounted how she suffered suicidal feelings during her time in the royal spotlight, stating that she was denied mental health support when she reached out for help.

"I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought," Meghan told Oprah.

"In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, we have in tandem the conversation of he won't be given security, he's not going to be given a title, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born," she also said during the shocking CBS interview.