Meghan Markle got to live the dream that many little girls grew up with. She found her Prince Charming and had her fairytale wedding, and it seems she's fit into royal life extremely well.
So with her first birthday as a royal coming up, you've got to imagine it will also be the stuff of dreams. I'm talking 10-tiered cakes, thousands of balloons and a grown-up version of Pass the Parcel because let's not kid ourselves – that game was the best at birthday parties.
But apparently, it will be a rather more low key affair.
The Duchess of Sussex is due to turn 37 next week, and while 37 isn't a particularly significant age to be turning, it is her first royal birthday. It's on August 4, which this year happens to fall on a Saturday (don't you just love when that happens?). But rather than make the most of the party day with a big shebang, Meghan will probably be spending the day celebrating someone else.
Yes, she'll be showing us all how to adult and how to be a supportive partner by accompanying Prince Harry to a wedding as his guest. According to Hello! magazine, August 4 is the date set for the wedding of Daisy Jenks and Charlie Van Straubenzee – a dude with a name so fancy it almost sounds made up, who also happens to be Harry's childhood friend.
Harry and Charlie when to school together in Berkshire, where they were wee little students at Ludgrove Prep School. They still hang out now (for example at Rugby games), and Charlie and his older brother Thomas were reportedly involved in Harry and Meghan's wedding in May. They were both part of the wedding party as ushers. It may come as no surprise then that Charlie asked Harry to be his best man.
It was thanks to royal photographer Tim Rooke that people found out that Charlie's wedding would be held on Meghan's birthday. As one of the royal family's preferred photographers, Tim would clearly know key dates on which the royals would be having special outings. While Tim said he would be missing the wedding, he did drop the date, and that Prince Harry would indeed be best man,
"Unfortunately I will be missing the wedding of Charlie Van Straubenzee and Daisy Jenks where Prince Harry will be best man on August 4th in Churt Surrey as I will be on the beach. Can't do everything!" he wrote. The photographer also revealed the wedding would be taking place in Churt, a village in the county of Surrey in England's south.
It might not be the most exciting of birthdays, but you can't always be swept off to exotic locales. Last year, the Duchess of Sussex went to Botswana with Prince Harry, and it appears that five-year-old Prince George just spent his birthday on a private island in the Caribbean with his family.
Well, I'm sure she's got a lot of travel ahead of her as part of her royal duties, so fear not Meghan – maybe next year.
