Lilibet marked her fourth birthday in June with a family trip to Disneyland and a ‘The Little Mermaid’ themed cake

Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet are still years away from making official public appearances, but in the latest family photo shared during a Disney television special, the youngest members of the Sussex family managed to capture all the attention.

The image, which appeared during The Happiest Story on Earth: 70 Years of Disneyland — A Special Edition of 20/20 on Sept. 21, showed the children of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle standing together, gazing at a birthday cake for Lilibet’s fourth birthday.

Their faces were turned away, but one detail lit up social media within minutes: both children’s heads were crowned with striking, matching red hair, a vivid reminder of their royal lineage.

The image was simple, almost quiet in its composition. Archie, now six, leaned forward slightly beside his younger sister as the two examined the cake: a whimsical, two-tier creation decorated with fondant waves, seashell details, and a topper featuring Ariel from The Little Mermaid.

Though fans could not see their expressions, the children’s matching locks told the story.

Within hours, royal watchers online were buzzing, many posting side-by-side comparisons of the children’s hair with that of their late grandmother, Princess Diana, and their father, Prince Harry.

It was a moment Harry himself had predicted. During a 2023 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Duke of Sussex spoke candidly about what he called the “Spencer gene.” “The Spencer gene is very, very strong,” he said, laughing as the audience cheered.

“I actually really, genuinely thought at the beginning of my relationship with Meghan that should this go the distance and we have kids, there’s no way the ginger gene will stand up to my wife’s genes. But I was wrong! Go gingers.”

That comment has since taken on new life as Archie and Lilibet grow. The Disneyland image, though brief, was enough to spark another wave of affectionate commentary.

One fan wrote, “You can see Diana in them already. The hair is proof.” Another quipped, “Two little ginger royals in the making—Harry must be over the moon.”

The Disneyland outing, which doubled as Lilibet’s birthday celebration in June, was a fitting occasion for such a reveal. For Harry and Meghan, bringing their children to “the happiest place on earth” was not just a family treat but a continuation of childhood traditions.

Harry remembered his own trip with Princess Diana vividly. In the same 20/20 special, he appeared on camera and said, “I went with my mom and my brother. I remember it very, very well. I remember losing it as a kid with all the characters—like, losing it.”

His tone softened as he added, “Those are the kinds of memories you want to give your own children.”

Meghan offered her own reflection, smiling as she described the theme park’s magic from her childhood in California.

“For me, growing up in southern California, Disneyland was more accessible, but it was still the biggest treat in the world. You never stopped being in awe when you walked through those gates,” she said.

Sharing that magic with her children, she explained, was “something Harry and I both wanted to do.” Their visit included more than cake.

Meghan posted glimpses of the day on Instagram, including a picture of her and Harry grinning on Space Mountain, a clip of Archie and Lilibet meeting Elsa from Frozen, and a candid shot of Harry with Archie at the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance attraction.

In one video, Archie could be heard asking, “Can we go again?” while Meghan laughed in the background. Lilibet, dressed in a sparkly Disney princess dress, reportedly clutched a small Ariel doll throughout the day.

The birthday cake itself, styled after The Little Mermaid, seemed to capture her current favorite character. “She’s obsessed,” Meghan told a friend earlier this summer.

“She wants to sing all the songs, and she tells Archie he has to be Sebastian.” The friend laughed, adding, “Archie rolls his eyes, but he sings along anyway.”

Behind the joy of the family outing, there is also a deeper thread. Harry has spoken before about how his own childhood trips with Diana shaped his understanding of parenthood.

During one public conversation last year, he said, “My mom wanted us to feel normal, to experience joy without cameras in our faces. She wanted us to see the world as children, not as heirs.

I think about that a lot when I take Archie and Lili places.” The Disneyland trip, though inevitably noted by the public, was still crafted to be about the children, their excitement, and the family’s bond.

The online reaction to Archie and Lilibet’s red hair also carried a certain emotional weight. For many, the visual link to Diana’s family is a reminder of the late princess’s enduring presence in her grandchildren.

“It’s like seeing history continue,” one commentator wrote. “The Spencer legacy lives on in those little ginger curls.” Harry himself once admitted the significance of that inheritance.

“Every time I see a bit of Diana in my kids,” he said during an interview last year, “it makes me feel like she’s with us. It’s comforting. It’s grounding.”

Still, Meghan has acknowledged that raising children with such a public connection to history comes with challenges. In private conversations shared by friends, she has joked about the curiosity surrounding her children’s appearance.

“People want to know if they look like me, if they look like Harry, if they look like Diana,” she said. “I just say they look like themselves. They’re Archie and Lili, and they’re perfect.”

The couple’s decision to share only glimpses of their children, and usually from behind, reflects their ongoing commitment to balancing privacy with public fascination.

The Disneyland photo was no exception: intimate enough to delight fans, but careful not to expose too much. The hair, however, was enough to set the royal-watching world abuzz.

In the days since the broadcast, blogs and news outlets have run with headlines emphasizing the “matching red hair” and “Spencer genes,” while fans continue to speculate on the children’s personalities.

One commenter wrote, “If Archie is anything like Harry, he’ll be the mischievous one. And if Lili is anything like Meghan, she’ll be running the show.”

As Harry and Meghan settle back into life in California, the Disneyland outing remains a snapshot of their family life—private, yet inevitably public. The children’s red hair may seem like a small detail, but in the world of royal narratives, it carries symbolic weight.

For Harry, who has long spoken about preserving his mother’s spirit for his own children, it is also deeply personal. “The ginger gene lives on,” he once said with a smile. Now, thanks to Archie and Lilibet, that legacy is visible to the world.