MEGHAN Markle and Prince Harry have released their annual Christmas card and it sends a message of “family power”, according to a body language expert.
The card – which included a rare new image of their kids Archie, five, and Lilibet, three – was a collage of photos from their year.
In the family snap, the young kids could be seen running towards Meghan and Harry’s outstretched arms in a garden.
Body language pro Judi James told Fabulous: “The parenting and the signals of love are shown as equal here though, with both Harry and Meghan performing the proffered hug.
“Surrounded by their dogs, the message seems to be one of family power, strength and balance that he might see as missing from his own childhood.”
She pointed out that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s pose with their children is a “‘happiness echo’ from Harry’s childhood”, and is a nod to Diana.
She explained: “The gesture of throwing their arms out in welcoming delight as their children rush towards them is a nod the iconic photo of idyllic, tactile parental bonding that was taken when Diana threw her arms out in a rush of instinctive love as William and Harry ran to hug her on board the Britannia in 2018.
“Harry’s flung arms and his facial expression of delight are almost identical here, as is the reciprocal response from his children.”
She also pointed out how the image was carefully chosen to maintain privacy for Archie and Lilibet.
Judi continued: “There’s no family greeting to camera and one of the most powerful messages is one of privacy.
“We are allowed to glimpse the couple with their children but only from the kind of distance that we’d normally get from a paparazzi pic and even then with the children only seen from the back view.”
The couple have rarely exposed their children to the limelight and in the image their faces are not shown to the camera.
In total, six images are featured with the card, sent by email, which has the message: “On behalf of the office of Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Archewell Productions and Archewell Foundation, we wish you a very happy holiday season and a joyful New Year.”
One picture shows Meghan embracing a young girl while in another Harry puts his arm around his wife.
Another picture shows the couple laughing while sitting in a row of people, the fifth is at an outdoor event with the Sussexes wearing sunglasses and smiling, and in the final picture the duke clasps hands with a man lying in a bed.
Judi added: “Apart from this one family picture, the couple’s ‘best bits’ focus on success, caring, via their tactile behaviours with people they are meeting on their tours, and of course their strength as a couple, with their displayed emotions coming from their laughter together and of course the image of romance and love from one of their most powerful PDA moments earlier in the year, as Meghan leans back in a ‘swoon’ of love for her husband.”
The card is intended for professional use by the couple and their team, with the Sussexes sending a separate card to their close family and friends which will remain private.
In stark contrast, the couple’s kids didn’t even feature on last year’s festive card.
Instead, it had a single shot of Meghan and Harry in formal wear during the closing ceremony of the 2023 Invictus Games, which took place in Germany.
Their first joint Christmas card came in 2018, half a year after their fairytale royal Windsor wedding in May.
Over the years the Sussexes have continued to send out a festive card, and often featured Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet front and centre.
In fact, the couple shared a photo of their daughter Lilibet for the first time on their 2021 card – but opted for couple shots for 2022 and 2023.
This follows the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s polo series airing on Netflix.
Harry and Meghan are executive producers of the five-episode series which is shot primarily at the US Open Polo Championship in Wellington, Florida.
But journalist and author Phil Dampier said he wasn’t sure their new show would appeal to a massive audience.
He told The Sun: “Polo is a very niche sport. It’s very much a sport for very wealthy people.
“The average person can’t afford a polo mallet or stick let alone a horse or a horse box.”
ONE royal tradition that Prince Harry has taken into his new California life is opening presents on Christmas Eve.
The royal wrote in Spare about his 2020 celebrations: “It was Christmas Eve. We FaceTimed with several friends, including a few in Britain.
“We watched Archie running around the tree. And we opened presents. Keeping to the Windsor family tradition.”
Harry also opened up about how they chose their Christmas tree.
He wrote: “We took Archie to find a Christmas tree.
“A pop-up lot in Santa Barbara. We bought one of the biggest spruces they had.
“We brought home, set it up in the living room. Magnificent.
“We stood back, admiring, counting our blessings. New home. Healthy boy.”
In an interview with Marie Claire, Meghan shared that Archie and Lilibet leave out “carrots for the reindeer”.
The couple are likely to spend the festive period with Meghan’s mum, Doria Ragland.
