A Daily Mail Columnist Said Lilibet Looks Like She Has A Happier Childhood Than The Wales Children

The royalist outrage machine has hit a new low. The Daily Mail, a media establishment that spent years criticising Prince Harry and Meghan Sussex and lost a privacy case over Meghan’s private letter, finally ran a piece defending their five-year-old daughter’s bare feet and “unbrushed” hair. Even then, the comment section exploded with fury.

Vanessa Tait published a column on June 4, 2026, marking Princess Lilibet’s fifth birthday. And instead of piling onto the usual “neglect” narrative, she did something unexpected: she told the pearl‑clutchers to give it a rest. She pointed out that Lilibet looks like a normal, happy child, and that the formal, polished photographs of the Wales children are, in fact, a performance.

Here is what Tait wrote:

Lilibet has turned five, and her doting parents Harry and Meghan have posted a couple of photos to mark the happy day. Nothing wrong with that, you’d think.

Here she is, barefoot on the grass in Montecito, in a light summer dress, her glorious flame‑red hair flying loose and unbrushed as she reaches out to touch a sprig of agapanthus in the garden. And there she is again, squirming in Harry’s arms, her hair obscuring her face, Meghan leaning in beside them both. It is entirely charming.

Only, a large portion of the online royal‑watching population seems to be clutching its pearls. ‘Why why why can’t she comb her daughter’s hair? Or put shoes on her feet? Poor child always looks unkempt,’ says one social media comment. ‘Clothes look as if they’ve been rescued from a trash bin,’ adds another. ‘Nothing laid‑back or hippy about it. More like neglect and bad parenting,’ opines a third.

Oh, do give it a rest.

If Lilibet’s parents had stayed as working members of the Royal Family, what would her fifth birthday photograph have looked like? I can tell you exactly. A formal portrait, taken in some well‑appointed room at Kensington or Windsor. Lilibet in a smocked Liberty‑print dress, probably pale blue, with a white Peter Pan collar. Her feet encased in white ankle socks and round‑toed leather shoes. Her red hair brushed within an inch of its life, pulled back in neat plaits tied with ribbon to match the dress. Positioned by a royal photographer. Told to smile – and smiling, no matter what she was actually feeling.

There is nothing inherently wrong with any of this. It’s what happens when you are born into one of the most famous families in the world. But there is no getting away from the fact that it’s also a performance, carrying with it the full weight of royal expectation.

Lilibet, by contrast, looks as if she is having a rather more normal childhood – and, dare I say it, a happier one.

Lilibet’s hair is a mess because she’s been having a childhood. There are far worse things to be accused of.

Daily Mail

The Gilded Cage Of Royal Childhood

Frankly, this should be obvious to anyone paying attention. Thank goodness Harry and Meghan are raising their children far away from the gilded cage of royal childhood.

Vanessa Tait wrote that Lilibet looks as if she is having “a rather more normal childhood” and, “dare I say it, a happier one.” On that point, she is right. The Waleses children are growing up inside a system that turns childhood into performance. Every balcony appearance, Christmas walk, and carefully staged family moment comes with expectation attached. The smiles may be sweet, but the machinery around them is anything but normal.

Just look at how Princess Charlotte was pulled into a public conversation about future period education. She did not consent to becoming the named reference point in a discussion about menstruation, even in a well-meaning conversation about stigma. Most parents would be uncomfortable with their young daughter being used as the reference point for that question.

Final Thoughts

And watch how predictable this gets. One columnist admits Lilibet looks free and happy, and soon enough, someone will rush to “balance” the argument by insisting the other royal children are actually having a superior childhood. Or the palace will roll out a convenient family moment to prove everyone is thriving. The script writes itself.

Let us be honest about what royal childhood often looks like. The Wales children are dressed in coordinated outfits, placed in front of cameras, expected to wave, smile, shake hands, attend formal events and interact with strangers who feel entitled to touch them, film them and comment on them. That is not a normal childhood. That is public service training before they are old enough to understand the bargain.

Harry and Meghan have made a different choice. Their children are largely kept out of the public eye. Their faces are usually obscured. Archie and Lilibet live in California, where privacy protections for minors are stronger than the British tabloid culture that has stalked royal children for decades. They are not marched out for every public ritual. They are allowed to exist as children first.

But if you find yourself worrying about a child’s loose hair or bare feet in her own garden, please go outside and touch some grass yourself. Maybe then you will gain some perspective. Lilibet’s hair is messy because she is having a happy childhood, and that is a blessing that many good people should want for all children.