Royal family wishes Prince Harry a happy 40th birthday

The royal family has wished the Duke of Sussex a happy 40th birthday in what marks the first public message for Harry since 2021.

A message shared on X, formerly Twitter, said simply: "Wishing The Duke of Sussex a very happy 40th birthday today!".

The post was also complete with a picture of a smiling Harry and an emoji of a birthday cake.

It is the first time the royal family has shared a public message for Harry since wishing him a happy birthday in 2021.

Harry is spending his milestone birthday on Sunday with Meghan and their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

He is then said to be heading away for a gathering with close friends.

Harry enters his fifth decade in what has been a rollercoaster year for the royal family, with both the King and the Princess of Wales diagnosed with cancer.

But the duke, who lives in California after stepping down from the working monarchy, remains estranged from his brother the Prince of Wales and faces a strained relationship with Charles.

When the King's shock health news was announced in February, Harry made a transatlantic dash to see him but his meeting with his father was kept to just 45 minutes.

In comments released to the BBC, the duke said "I was anxious about 30, I'm excited about 40", and described how fatherhood had given him a renewed sense of purpose to make "this world a better place".

Harry's year has seen him try his hand at the skeleton bobsled when he joined Invictus Games competitors training in Canada, and undertake quasi-royal tours to Colombia and Nigeria.

In Colombia, Meghan addressed a panel on Afro-Descendant Women and Power and told how her three-year-old daughter Lili had "absolutely found her voice".

The couple also relaunched their Archewell website, rebranding it as Sussex.com under the title The Office of Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Harry travelled to London in May to celebrate a decade of his Invictus Games and attended a service at St Paul's Cathedral but did not meet up with his brother or father.

Birmingham has won the bid to host the sporting competition in 2027, with the duke congratulating the city on its success and looking set to attend the Games in the UK in three years' time.

Harry's new Netflix documentary series about the world of polo is set to air in December.

There was a brief return to the UK for the duke in August for the funeral of his uncle Lord Fellowes, when he stayed at Althorp, the ancestral home of his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales.

He reportedly had no interaction with William at the church service.