The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will mark the third birthday of their daughter, Princess Lilibet, on June 4, but they got the festivities started early with pre-birthday bash.
The family celebrated over the weekend with a party at home in Montecito, California, PEOPLE confirms. Among the guests were close friends and family as well as some of Lili’s friends.
Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor was born in California after Prince Harry and Meghan stepped back from their royal roles and moved to Meghan’s home state in the U.S.
with their son, Prince Archie, now 5, in 2020. Lilibet’s birth announcement, shared on the Archewell Foundation website, said that she was named after Queen Elizabeth’s family nickname while her middle name, Diana, “was chosen to honor her beloved late grandmother, the Princess of Wales.”
The birth announcement also referred to the newborn as Lili, a nickname that Prince Harry and Meghan have continued to call their daughter.
In March 2023, PEOPLE exclusively revealed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were using their children’s royal titles through the news of their daughter’s christening announcement. Once their grandfather King Charles acceded to the throne in September 2022, Archie and Lilibet were afforded the titles of prince and princess, making them Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Related: Meghan Markle Says She ‘Loves Being a Mom’ to ‘Two Very Chatty, Sweet Children’
The royal family’s official website was updated to reflect the children’s new titles the next day, and the children are referred to by their royal titles in their parents’ biographies on sussex.com, which launched in February. Around the same time, PEOPLE learned that Prince Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42, have adopted their titles of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as the last name for their children. PEOPLE understands that Sussex is their family surname. Using their titles as their children’s last names follows the tradition historically used by members of the royal family.
Prince Harry and Meghan have raised their children outside of the spotlight since stepping back from their royal roles, and the world caught the first glimpse of Lilibet on the Sussexes’ 2021 holiday card.
“This year, 2021, we welcomed our daughter, Lilibet, to the world. Archie made us a ‘Mama’ and a ‘Papa,’ and Lili made us a family,” Harry and Meghan said in the greeting.
Related: Princess Lilibet of Sussex: All About Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Daughter
Six months later, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex traveled to the U.K. with both of their kids for Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee festivities in June 2022. The timing coincided with Princess Lilibet’s first birthday, which Prince Harry and Meghan celebrated with a gathering at Frogmore Cottage, which they used as their home in the U.K. until last year.
The couple released the first portrait of Lili, taken by photographer and friend Misan Harriman, during the birthday party that a spokesperson described as a “casual, intimate backyard picnic.” The photo showed Lilibet smiling in a blue dress with a white bow in her red hair, which she and her brother Archie inherited from dad Harry!
Fans got a further glimpse of the celebration in the docuseries Harry & Meghan, which premiered on Netflix in December 2022.
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Prince Harry and Meghan have shared sweet details about Lilibet through the years, from her “very chilled” nature to her determination to “keep up” with her big brother. Archie turned 5 on May 6, and the Sussexes celebrated his birthday privately before Prince Harry and Meghan embarked on their official trip to Nigeria, which was significant as their first official international trip since stepping back from their royal roles.
Though Prince Archie and Princess Lili didn’t tag along for the tour, they were top of mind for Prince Harry and Meghan. While visiting a school in Abuja on the first day in Nigeria, the Duchess of Sussex revealed that “singing and dancing” was Lili’s “favorite class,” probably because of “all the jumping around.” Meghan also said that Archie liked construction as children showed off their robotic projects in a STEM class.
The Duchess of Sussex later described her kids as “very chatty, sweet children” while speaking at a women’s leadership event on May 11 and mentioned that she was “missing my babies” on May 12, which was Mother’s Day in the U.S.
