NEED TO KNOW

  • Prince Harry shared the intimate story of Princess Lilibet’s birth in his 2023 memoir, Spare
  • The Duke of Sussex wrote about how he helped deliver his daughter and his concerns during her birth
  • Prince Harry and Meghan Markle named their daughter, who turned 4 on June 4, after Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana

Princess Lilibet is celebrating her fourth birthday on June 4, calling for a look back at the dramatic story of her birth that Prince Harry shared in his memoir, Spare.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s daughter was born at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in California in 2021 after the couple stepped back from their royal roles in the U.K. the year prior. Harry wrote about how he helped deliver his daughter in his best-selling book.

The Duke of Sussex, 40, wrote that he told Meghan he wanted to be the first person their daughter saw when she was born and got into position when the time came.

“I went and stood beside the doctor. We both crouched. As if about to pray. The doctor called out: The head is crowning. Crowning, I thought. Incredible,” Prince Harry wrote in Spare, referencing the double meaning between the stage of labor and royal headwear. 

“The skin was blue. I worried the baby wasn’t getting enough air. Is she choking? I looked at Meg,” he continued. “One more push, my love! We’re so close.”

Meghan Markle and Princess Lilibet in a photo she shared to Instagram on June 4, 2025.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex/Instagram

The Duke of Sussex wrote that the doctor helped guide his hands and time seemed to stop.

​”A scream, then a moment of pure liquid silence…There was only this intense present, and then the doctor turned to me and shouted: Now!” Harry wrote, recalling that he slid his hands under his daughter’s small body.

“Gently, but firmly, as I’d seen in films, I pulled our precious daughter from that world into this,” he wrote.

Prince Harry remembered that he pledged to keep Lilibet safe, and elsewhere in the passage recapped how her birth differed from her brother, Prince Archie. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcomed their first child, son Archie, now 6, in May 2019 in London when they were full-time working royals, and Harry wrote in Spare about how Lilibet’s birth felt “slightly easier” without the same pressure around it. 

Palace announcements and hospital photo calls are tradition for births within the British royal family, and Harry wrote that he and Meghan both felt “calmer” that they didn’t have to deal with those logistics when Lilibet arrived.

The couple also had two California classics to eat at the hospital before Lili’s birth — In-N-Out and fajitas!

“We ate and ate and then did the Baby Mama dance around the hospital room,” Prince Harry wrote in his memoir. “Nothing but joy and love in that room.”

Prince Harry and Meghan named their daughter Lilibet Diana in tribute to Queen Elizabeth‘s childhood nickname of Lilibet and Prince Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana. 

Prince Harry, Princess Lilibet, Meghan Markle and Prince Archie in their 2024 holiday card.

Archewell

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The first public picture of Lilibet arrived in the family’s holiday card in December 2021, confirming that Lili inherited her dad Harry’s red hair. 

In honor of Lilibet’s fourth birthday on June 4, Meghan celebrated her daughter with a new tribute on Instagram.

Meghan Markle and Princess Lilibet in a photo she shared to Instagram on June 4, 2025.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex/Instagram

“Happy birthday to our beautiful girl! Four years ago today she came into our lives – and each day is brighter and better because of it. Thanks to all of those sending love and celebrating her special day!” the Duchess of Sussex wrote below a two-part carousel of black and white snaps of her and Lili.

The first photo showed Meghan hugging her daughter on a boat in the ocean, followed by a second shot of Meghan holding a newborn Lili on her chest in bed.