Mike allegedly met Zara Phillips, his wife and the Queen’s granddaughter, through Prince Harry at the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The rugby player inevitably gets along with Harry, especially because they have a shared love for the sport. Mike and Zara now have two children, two-year-old Lena and six-year-old Mia, who have been photographed playing with their royal cousins over the years, including Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
However, the transfer of Harry and Meghan to Los Angeles means that Lena and Mia are unlikely to be able to play with one-year-old Archie anytime soon.
In an interview with The Telegraph in May 2019, Mike discussed what Harry would be like as a father shortly after Archie’s birth.
He enthusiastically confirmed that Harry “will be a great father.”
Mike then described his vision of how the younger generation of royalty would play together.
He explained, “Obviously [Harry’s] Lena’s godfather, but now we have a large group of young people in the family.
“Lena and obviously Louis are similar ages and Mia is between Charlotte and George, and then you have Peter’s kids, Savannah and Isla, who are a little bit older.
“James (Viscount Severn, son of Prince Edward) is, well, not exactly the ring leader, but he’s the oldest.
“So yeah, it’s going to be a good small group.
“And Harry, he’s busy, but he loves to play with everyone and he’s going to be a good father.”
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Previous reports indicated that Archie had only met George, Charlotte and Louis “a handful of times” before his family left for North America, despite Kate Middleton’s alleged enthusiasm for her children to spend more time with him.
A source also told The Sunday Times in March that the Queen was “very sad” that Archie would not be able to grow with the rest of the royal horde.
The source said: “She will be very sad to have hardly seen Archie and that he will miss growth with his cousins and family.”
While Mike himself said in January that discussing Megxit was a “no-go area”, many commentators have speculated that Harry and Meghan decided to resign as members of royalty so that Archie could lead a life as a private citizen.
Mike added that he had planned to be easy on the pranks at Harry’s expense, as the royal leans toward fatherhood during the interview with The Telegraph.
He said: “We will only let him relax himself, discover his own path.
“The thing is, we are very lucky with ours; ours have always slept, so I hope they get it too. “
Just two days after Archie’s birth, Meghan and Harry introduced their son to the press and confirmed that he was a peaceful baby, as were Mike’s children as babies.
The Duchess of Sussex explained: “He has the sweetest temperament, he is really calm.
“It was the dream. I have the two best boys in the world, so I am very happy.”
