Harry and Meghan mark son’s 1st birthday with charity video

Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, holding their son Archie, meet with Anglican Archbishop Emeritus, Desmond Tutu in Cape Town, South Africa on Sept. 25, 2019. (African News Agency via AP)

LONDON — The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have released a video of Meghan reading to their son as they mark Archie’s 1st birthday and promote a campaign to help children during the coronavirus pandemic.

The video shows Meghan sitting with Archie on her lap and reading one of his favorite books, “Duck! Rabbit!” Archie grabs at the pages and helps turn them during the reading. Harry, who filmed the short video, whoops and says “bravo” from behind the camera at the end.

The three-minute video was posted Wednesday on the Instagram accounts of Save With Stories and Save the Children U.K. for a fundraising campaign with the goal bringing food and learning resources to children and families struggling during the pandemic.

Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was born on May 6, 2019 at London’s Portland Hospital. His parents chose not to pose with their newborn outside the hospital, a recent tradition in Harry’s family, and decided against giving the baby a royal name.

Archie had an eventful first year. He accompanied his parents on a tour of Africa and at the age of 4 months was introduced to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Harry and Meghan shocked many early this year with an announcement that they intended to quit as senior royals and split their time between Britain and North America. They couple officially stepped down from royal duties at the end of March, saying they were giving up public funding and seeking financial independence.

The family went from living in a cottage on the grounds of Windsor Castle, to Vancouver Island in Canada and then on to Los Angeles before lockdown measures commenced.