The royal family has shared a throwback picture of Queen Elizabeth II in honour of her 96th birthday.
The social media tribute, which was posted to the official Instagram account for the royal family on Thursday 21 April, included a black-and-white portrait of the Queen when she was just two years old.
In the portrait, the smiling princess is seen wearing a strand of pearls with her hands on her cheeks and her light-coloured hair donned with curls.
“Happy Birthday Your Majesty!” they captioned the post. “Today as the Queen turns 96, we’re sharing this photograph taken when she was two years old.”
The caption also provided a brief history of her early life, explaining that the then-Princess Elizabeth was “never expected to become Queen.”
When her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated the throne in 1936, her father became King George VI and the young princess became the heir presumptive. When her father died in 1952, Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II at 25 years old.
One fan of the Queen was quick to notice the curly-haired resemblance between a young Princess Elizabeth and her great-grandson, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
“How adorable, she looks a lot like adorable little Prince Archie!” they tweeted.
The son of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, two-year-old Archie, is known for having a reddish hair colour similar to his father Prince Harry. In a holiday card released last December, the couple showed off their son Archie and his 10-month-old sister, Lilibet Diana. The card featured Harry and Meghan smiling at Lilibet as the duchess held her in the air, while their son Archie sat on his father’s knee with his curly hair on display.
The resemblance between the toddler and the Prince Harry has often been met with happiness on social media, including when Meghan shared a photo of Archie standing in the family’s chicken coop at their home in Montecito, California.
“Meghan Markle showing Archie with his chickens on Ellen is PRECIOUS,” one person tweeted back in November.
Another royal fan said the photo of the young monarch is one of their favourites of the now-96 year old, writing: “One of my favourite photos of our beautiful Queen. Happy Birthday!”
“What a beautiful picture. Celebrating the life of an amazing woman and dedicated Queen,” someone else wrote.
Ahead of her 96th birthday, Prince Harry and Meghan met with the Queen at Windsor Castle during a secret visit to the UK before attending the Invictus Games in The Hague, Netherlands.
The visit marked the first time that the couple have been in Europe together since they stepped back from their roles as senior members of the royal family in March 2020 and relocated to California.
While in the Netherlands, Prince Harry detailed his visit with the Queen to NBC’s Today host Hoda Kotb in an interview special that aired on 20 April.
“Being with her was great, it was just so nice to see her. She was on great form, she’s always got a great sense of humour,” he said. “I was just making sure that she is protected and got the right people around her.”
The royal also confirmed that he made the Queen “laugh,” before telling Kotb that he and Meghan had tea with his grandmother.
“It was really nice to catch up with her,” he added.
