Prince Harry and Meghan Markle caused quite the stir in early 2020 when they left the UK behind for a new life across the pond.
America's de facto slogan is 'sweet land of liberty', and in one fell swoop the Sussexes had freed themselves from the bonds of public service and duty to the crown, and opened up an unfettered life of private enterprise.
Five years on, the change appears to be one neither Harry nor Meghan regrets, but how their 'Americanisation' has affected Archie and Lilibet is less clear.
Prince Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was born in the UK on 6 May 2018 but has spent most of his life in California. His younger sister, Princess Lilibet Diana, born in California on 4 June 2021, has spent all her life in the Golden State.
They live in an £11m Montecito mansion complete with a swimming pool and chicken coop, a stark contrast to father Prince Harry who was raised at the royal residences of Kensington Palace in London and Highgrove House in Gloucestershire. Their upbringing is also worlds apart from that of their royal cousins, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, none of whom have been afforded the same privacy.
© AFP via Getty ImagesOffering Archie and Lilibet a more 'normal' existence was a decisive factor in the Sussexes emigration, the Duchess telling The Cut she would have had a ''problem'' doing the school pickup and drop-off with a press pen of 40 people snapping pictures.
Yet as the children grow and go about their daily lives in public, securing their privacy will become increasingly difficult. And unlike more conventional royal children, whose lives have effectively been a training school for press intrusion from birth, will the hitherto cosseted Archie and Lilibet be equipped to deal with incessant attention?
A steep learning curve
''They're going to have to learn to be around other people, and they're going to have their L plates on,'' child psychologist Dr Anu Sayal-Bennett told HELLO! ''It'll be quite a shock to their system, because we learn by trial and error, and by exposure. We survive better when we're in a group.
© Photo: Getty Images"Under the spotlight is not a great place to be for any human being. If you're trying to keep your children protected, that brings up issues. Who are you going to play with? Who are you even going to trust? What kind of artificial world are you going to be living in?
"When you think that every movement you make, every statement, every piece of clothing you wear, is going to be scrutinised, transmitted in one nanosecond, that's quite huge."
The privacy paradox
This microscopic level of public scrutiny can, paradoxically, make children feel alienated.
In an interview with renowned Canadian physician Dr Gabor Maté, Prince Harry said he "always felt slightly different" to the rest of his family, as if he were living in a disconnected "bubble".
Dr Anu highlighted how challenging this can be. "When you live in a bubble of reality that alienates you from the rest of the world, you are going to feel different. Where are you going to get your sense of belonging? I think it's going to be very hard."
© Getty ImagesRules of engagement
Unlike Harry, brother William appears to have found a sense of belonging in the royal bosom, and Dr Anu believes this could extend to his children who will have a much more prescriptive way of life than their cousins. "Maybe they do have a bit more sense of belonging. They know what the rules are."
Fewer freedoms aside, the Waleses still attempt to foster a normal environment for their children.
"They go to fairly ordinary schools, mix with other kids, they have a family life and are kept out of the spotlight as much as possible,'' said Dr Anu. ''Princess Catherine herself is so into early years and the effect of parenting.
"Moreover, it's going to be easier for them because they're connected. The Sussex children are already pretty isolated from the wider extended family. And I think that's a loss they will have to negotiate."
© Samir Hussein/WireImageIf isolation is all Archie and Lilibet have to contend with, perhaps they will feel it is a price worth paying for the ability to determine their futures. While royal children around the world will grow up with the expectation of becoming a working royal, appearing at events or even one day inheriting the Crown, neither will have these pressures until they can decide what role they'd like to play in the monarchy.
They may also benefit from their parents' dual heritage. "It's nice if we can give kids different role models and different choices, so that they have a bigger, wider repertoire," said Dr Anu.
Dr Anu’s key to happiness
One factor outweighs all others though, according to Dr Anu: parental intent.
"They are just kids, and the most important thing is that all the adults around them keep their best interests at heart. These early years are very, very important, and they're going to learn from their parents about life and that's going to be their normal."
Meghan thinks similarly. "It is so much work to be a mom when you are just trying to be a conscious parent to raise good, kind human beings and to do that solo is the most impressive, admirable thing on the planet," she said on her Archetypes podcast when talking about the labels of good mothers versus bad mothers.
© GettyPrince Harry echoed this sentiment, telling Dr Maté he was "making sure that I smother [Archie and Lilibet] with love and affection".
"As a father I feel a huge responsibility to ensure that I don't pass on any traumas or... negative experiences that I've had as a kid. And that's work, that's putting in the work, and daily, being conscious of my behaviour, of my reactions to both of my kids."
Once a royal…
Smothered with parental love or not, there is no getting away from the fact that Archie and Lilibet will continue to be objects of the sort of intense public interest almost exclusively reserved for scions of royalty. And they will be subjected to this without having the formal training and rules-based environment afforded to the children of the Prince and Princess of Wales. How will they cope? We’ll all soon find out.
