Actress Jennifer Garner has thanked her friend Meghan Markle for ‘sharing’ son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor with the world to support her charity campaign.
Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, yesterday released a video showing the duchess reading children’s book Duck! Rabbit! to Archie to raise awareness of Save the Children’s Save with Stories campaign, which was launched in the US by Garner.
The video, filmed by Prince Harry, was posted yesterday to mark Archie’s first birthday. The family celebrated the occasion at their new California home.
Writing in an open letter shared on Instagram, Garner thanked the royal couple for their involvement and praised ‘clever’ Archie for knowing when to turn the pages as his mother read.
In an open letter shared on Instagram, Jennifer, 48, praised ‘clever’ Archie for knowing when to turn the page as he listened to his mother Meghan, 38, read children’s book Duck! Rabbit!. Meghan and Archie supported a charity campaign launched by Garner
Garner is behind Save With Stories, the Save the Children charity campaign that the Sussexes’ supported with the video. Pictured, the actress reading as part of the campaign
Writing in an open letter shared on Instagram, Garner thanked the royal couple for their involvement and praised ‘clever’ Archie for knowing when to turn the pages
She wrote: ‘Dear Meghan and Harry, Thank you for sharing your gorgeous son with the world and allowing us to join you in celebrating his first birthday.
‘We are humbled and grateful that you chose @savewithstories to mark this special day and in so doing – have raised the visibility of @savethechildren’s work in the US and UK and have helped feed and educate children in desperate need of both.
‘More than anything – watching you lovingly talk through the pictures while your clever Archie turns the pages – lifts all of us up and reminds us that what may seem like a duck just might turn out to be a rabbit. Thank you for this joyful and meaningful shift in perspective.
The charity revealed Garner had encouraged her friend the Duchess to get involved with the initiative, which is aimed at helping children hardest hit by the Covid-19 crisis both in the UK and around the world.
Royal fans noted how much baby Archie looks like his father Prince Harry at the same age (seen right) in the new video
Archie looks the spitting image of his father Prince Harry, pictured here as a baby with his mother Diana during a tour of Italy
Dozens of royal fans said one-year-old Archie looks like a ‘mini’ version of his father as they wished him a happy birthday
Save the Children UK Ambassador Poppy Delevingne has led the initiative for Save With Stories in the UK and other celebrities who have read include Helen Mirren, Jude Law, Stephen Fry and the singers Rita Ora and Liam Payne of One Direction. The initiative has already raised more than £1million in the US.
A spokesperson for Harry and Meghan said the couple wanted to highlight the important issue on Archie’s birthday.
The spokesperson said: ‘The family is participating in the campaign across both the US and UK to help bring much-needed support to children who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘As they celebrate this family moment, the Duke and Duchess wanted to continue to raise awareness around the urgency of bringing food and learning resources to millions of children.’
Archie sports a full head of hair and is wearing a T-shirt in the video, while Meghan, 38, is radiant in a casual denim shirt
Eager to keep Archie engaged in the book, the former actress makes duck sounds and nuzzles into the toddler as she reads
Meghan pointed to the words and pictures in the book while one-year-old Archie grabbed onto the pages
The sweet video, filmed last weekend in California, was met with great excitement from royal fans, who noted how much Archie looked like Harry, 35, at the same age.
One posted: ‘OMG he is Prince Harry’s double!’ Another wrote: ‘Archie is Harry’s mini me’.
Another added: ‘Oh my god! He is Harry’s twin wow! What a adorable boy!! King Archie rules!’
In the video, Archie is dressed in a simple short white romper while Meghan is dressed down in a loose-fitting denim shirt, which she accessorised with a stack of beaded bracelets.
The video was posted on Save the Children UK’s Instagram page in support of the charity’s Save with Stories campaign. The couple follow a string of A-listers who have taken part
Others praised Harry and Meghan for showing the ‘realities’ of parenting, with the video showing Archie wriggling around in his mother’s lap.
Meghan read with one arm wrapped around her son, who appeared interested in moving around, and tried to keep Archie interested by making duck noises and nuzzling into his face.
Taking to social media, parents praised the Duchess for capturing the realities of family life, with one commenting: ‘So real!!!!! What parent hasn’t had their young child lose attention during a story?’.
Another added: ‘Oh my heart! So cute! The struggles of reading with a toddler on your lap is real! My little one also wants to read every other book besides the one mommy is reading.’
A book which teaches a lesson on right versus wrong and differing points of view
Duck! Rabbit! was written by American author and short film-maker Amy Krouse Rosenthal (pictured)
Meghan’s choice of Duck! Rabbit! suggests an early desire in the duchess to teach her son to see both sides of an argument.
Published in 2009, the story features two unseen people debating whether the creature before them is a duck or a rabbit, with each making arguments to push their case. The book was read at the White House in 2010 during the Easter Egg Roll.
It was written by American author and short film-maker Amy Krouse Rosenthal, who published more than 30 children’s books between 2005 and her death aged 51 in 2017.
She is the only author to have three children’s books make the Best Children’s Books for Family Literacy list in the same year and is best known for her memoir Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life.
Rosenthal, who had three children, was a frequent contributor to TED and gave talks at TEDxSanDiego 2011 and at TEDxSMU 2012. She delivered her first, and most renowned, TED talk ‘Notes on Life’ at TEDxWaterloo in Canada in 2010.
Her essays and articles have appeared in The New York Times, Hallmark Magazine, Parenting, O: The Oprah Magazine and McSweeney’s. Her website, whoisamy.com, was named one of the best official author websites, alongside Barbara Kingsolver and Stephen King.
Rosenthal announced she was terminally ill with ovarian cancer on March 3, 2017, by way of an essay entitled Modern Love, published in the New York Times. The essay took the form of a dating profile for her husband Jason, intended to help him remarry after her death. She died 10 days later at her Chicago home.