Prince Harry and Meghan Markle released their annual Christmas card from Montecito yesterday, with one of the six photographs included indicating a major change for the couple.

In the ‘Happy Holidays’ card, a mixture of photographs were used of the couple’s charitable work and the pair looking loved up, however one picture of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex with their two children Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, got royal fans talking.

The photograph showed the children running up to their parents for hugs, with Harry and Meghan having their arms outstretched. The faces of the two children, who are rarely photographed, were not shown.

The decision to include the children in this card comes after a friend of the Sussexes previously told People that Harry, 40, wanted to protect his children by keeping them out of the limelight, a reason why the couple had not previously included them in Christmas cards before.

They said: “Harry has been reluctant to show his children publicly, not out of a desire to hide them but to protect their privacy and safety from potential threats. He wants them to lead as normal a life as possible without the fear of kidnapping or harm.”

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