The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have shared details about life with baby son Archie – telling a group of military families he is beginning to crawl and already has two teeth.
Prince Harry praised those who maintain a home life while their partner is away on operations and sympathised with service personnel missing out on their child’s development while serving abroad.
The couple met families from the Welsh Guards, Coldstream Guards and Household Cavalry while visiting a regular coffee morning at Windsor’s Broom Farm Community Centre, located in the heart of an Army housing estate.
Most of the Coldstream Guards are on exercise in Kenya and a large proportion of the Welsh Guards are coming to the end of a long deployment to the Falklands.
Harry, who served for 10 years as an Army officer, said he was in awe of military families holding it together back home, saying: ‘It’s unbelievably hard. I have so much respect and admiration for anyone who has to deal with that.’
Details of the visit were released in a post on the couple’s Instagram page describing how they ‘surprised their neighbours in Windsor’.
The couple took Archie with them on their royal African tour last month and Harry empathised with service personnel who are away from their children.
‘I can’t imagine what it’s like to miss so much as they change so quickly,’ he said.
Meghan chatted to parents about her son, who is six months old on Thursday, and shared stories about his development with Amy Thompson, whose husband Brad is attached to the Welsh Guards.
Ms Thompson said: ‘My daughter Aeris is the same age as Archie and we talked about weaning and the children beginning to crawl – she’s just a normal mum and it was like talking to a friend.’
During the visit, Harry was pictured holding a little girl while Meghan high-fived a toddler.
The video showed the duchess marvelling at another youngster’s teeth, saying: ‘Archie just got two teeth – tiny ones right there.’
Army spouse Leigh Smith took her eight-year-old daughter Molly to meet the royal visitors and the youngster said: ‘Meghan promised not to tell anyone that I was off school. She asked me who my best friend was.’
Helen Llewelyn-Usher, wife of Welsh Guards Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Henry Llewelyn-Usher, said the visit will help families to make new friends.
She said: ‘It’s amazing that Harry and Meghan found time to fit this in to their busy schedule – they shook hands with every single person. It brought together lots of people and now they will always have this amazing memory in common.’
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are due to visit Westminster Abbey’s Field of Remembrance later today.
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