The Truth About Queen Elizabeth's Relationship With Archie

Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's son, is Queen Elizabeth II's 8th great-grandson of her 10 (to date) great-grandchildren, per Town & Country. Earlier this year, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved to California, making Archie the Queen's only great-grandchild living in America. Between the physical distance between the Queen and Archie and the COVID-19 pandemic, have they had a chance to establish a relationship? 

One thing that came up during Oprah Winfrey's interview with Harry and Meghan was that someone inside the royal family reportedly raised concern over how dark Archie's skin would be due to the fact that Meghan is biracial. Elizabeth was not the family member who raised those concerns, as Oprah revealed on CBS This Morning, saying that Prince Harry didn't share who said that, but "...he wanted to make sure that I knew and, if I had an opportunity to share it, that it was not his grandmother nor his grandfather that were a part of those conversations."

When Prince Phillip died the following month, Meghan and Archie didn't travel to England for the funeral due to her advanced state of pregnancy. Plus, Archie is just two years old, he likely won't remember his early days with his great-grandmother. However, that doesn't mean that the queen hasn't done her duty. 

Keep reading to find out the adorable way the Queen stays in touch with Archie in California.

Meghan Markle and Archie did not accompany Prince Harry to the U.K. for Prince Philip's funeral in April because her doctor didn't clear her to travel at this point in her pregnancy, per People. She and Archie did watch, however, the funeral from their home in Montecito. That seems to be a recurring theme in Queen Elizabeth II's relationship with Archie.

Archie and his great-grandmother have been keeping in touch across the miles with video calls via Zoom. In an interview with James Corden, Prince Harry said, "Both my grandparents do. We've Zoomed them a few times. They've seen Archie running around." Harry also revealed that his late grandfather didn't quite understand how to end the call and he would simply close the laptop instead of logging off.

Elizabeth also sent Archie (and Meghan) the Christmas gift he'd been wanting: a waffle maker. In the same interview with James Corden, Harry recognized how absurd the gift might seem, joking: "I don't even know how to comment on that." Harry also explained how much Archie and Meghan loved the gift."My grandmother asked us what Archie wanted for Christmas and Meg said a waffle maker. She sent us a waffle maker for Archie. So breakfast now, Meg makes up a beautiful organic mix in the waffle maker."

Given, you know, everything, it seems that Elizabeth and Archie have a remarkably normal relationship!