Royal Fans React To Harry & Meghan's Christmas Card Not Featuring Their Kids

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, have finally released their Christmas card, and it's missing a crucial detail: The couple's children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

The noticeable absence of the kids has also caused some reactions from royal fans who awaited the couple's festive card following the release of their rivals, Prince William and Kate Middleton's card, which featured their kids and was heavily panned for being photoshopped.

Harry and Meghan's card comes hours after the Duke came out victorious in his legal battle with U.K. tabloids and was awarded damages of up to $180,000.

Harry and Meghan wish everyone a "Happy Holiday Season" on their latest festive card. The royal couple finally dropped their Christmas card featuring a gorgeous photo of them clapping with broad smiles during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games, which were held in September in Dusseldorf, Germany.

The card had an elegance to it as it featured a gorgeous green background with the words, "On behalf of the office of Prince Harry & Meghan, the Duke & Duchess of Sussex, Archewell Productions, and Archewell Foundation, we wish you a very Happy Holiday Season. Thanks for all the support in 2023."

The couple's kids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibert, were missing from the Christmas card. This follows the pattern of their 2022 Christmas Card, which did not feature their children. The release of Harry and Meghan's card comes a few days after other royal family members shared theirs.

After the release, royal fans were quick to comment on the stunning card, with some praising the pair for not featuring their kids while others slammed them for not doing enough.

A fan of the Sussexes wrote, "Harry and Meghan have released their Christmas card, and I love that their children aren't in because the haters will lose their minds, and I'm hear to witness it all. The conspiracy theories, relentless hate, and the 'why are they hiding them from us?' whines. Merry Christmas."

Another noted that Harry is trying to protect his kids by not featuring them: "It's on their Archewell site when you download their impact report. We are probably going to get their business Christmas cards until the kids turn 18. Harry is going to give his kids everything he wanted as a child- being surrounded by love and being protected."

A third person praised the photo, saying, "That's a fantastic photo of them. So joyous & so appropriate for Christmas."

Amid the positive feedback, others felt the couple could have done more with one person writing, "Isn't that a picture from Invictus games? Not Christmasy at all?! Old picture, no effort! No kids!"

Harry and Meghan's Christmas card came right after William and Kate released theirs, which was heavily criticized due to some bizarre Photoshop.

The couple and their three kids posed together in a black-and-white photo while all wearing matching white buttoned-up long-sleeve shirts. Although the photo looked beautiful from afar, eagle-eyed fans quickly pointed out a major photoshop fail on the couple's youngest child, Prince Louis' finger.

Fans noticed that the young prince was missing a finger on his right hand, which he placed on the chair his sister Princess Charlotte sat on. The only fingers seen in the picture were Louis's index, ring, and pinky fingers. It's unclear, though, if he was concealing a finger or if the image was simply an error caused by Photoshop.

One fan's tweet on the picture read at the time, "Prince Louis' finger is missing, also they have photoshopped someone else's leg onto his. I certainly hope taxpayers didn't pay for it." Another wrote, "Louis is missing a finger; this has got to be the worst Photoshopped pic ever."

The Sussexes definitely have something to be happy about as the Duke recently secured a partial triumph in his legal confrontation with British tabloid publisher the Mirror Group.

Harry claimed in his case that over 140 incidents of illegal information collection were conducted against him by Mirror Group tabloids, who he said had hacked his phone and engaged in unlawful acts to obtain personal information for news stories.

In the seven-week trial, Harry became the first British royal in 130 years to take the witness stand. He alleged that the tabloid unlawfully obtained information for news stories published between 1995 and 2011. After reviewing 33 accounts, the trial concluded that 15 of them were the product of phone hacking or other illegal means of obtaining information.

According to a report, Justice Timothy Fancourt, who presided over the case at Britain's High Court, awarded the royal a "modest" sum of $180,000 [£140,000] in damages slightly exceeding half of the £320,000 he sought.

Happy Holidays to the Duke and Duchess!