The subtle detail from Prince Archie's birthday photo that you might have missed

Prince Archie is 6 years old! No, we can't believe he's getting so big — and neither can his mum Meghan Markle, who posted the most adorable photo of the little boy on Instagram to celebrate his birthday on 6 May. On Tuesday, the Duchess of Sussex shared a photo of little Archie watching a stunning orange sunset over the ocean with his back facing the camera, wearing a sweet pair of stripy pyjamas.

His doting mum captioned the post: "Our son. Our sun. Happy 6th birthday to Archie! Thank you for all of the love, prayers, and warm wishes for our sweet boy. He’s six! Where did the time go? (And for all of you who came to celebrate with us at his party last weekend, thank you for making his birthday so incredibly special)."

But there's one detail from the picture that is raising royal fans' eyebrows — though it could obviously be a coincidence. The detail in question is the fact that, in the photo, Archie is standing on a balcony. While under other circumstances this would be meaningless, the photo was posted the day after Archie's cousins George, Charlotte and Louis stood on the Buckingham Palace balcony in London for VE Day.

Had Meghan and Harry stayed in the UK as senior royals, it's likely that Archie would have stood beside his cousins on Monday, but as things are, the US-based young Prince has spent very little time with the Wales children. This comes after there was some amount of commentary about the message the Palace balcony optics were indirectly sending to Prince Harry.

Body language expert Judi James told the Mirror: "Royal balcony moments always show the Firm at their highest status best, standing in a position of ultimate power as a strong family unit while looking down on the massed crowds of their subjects, all cheering wildly to show their support. So, the symbolism of this appearance could hardly have been more timely given the latest verbal pelting to have come from Montecito. This confident, stoic appearance suggested high levels of the kind of resilience that the Royal Family are always known for."

The so-called "verbal pelting" is a reference to Harry's latest bombshell interview with the BBC, in which he said: "I would love reconciliation with my family. There's no point continuing to fight any more, life is precious."

This apparent olive branch comes after many years of distance between Harry and his family, following his decision to leave royal life in 2020.