Royal watchers were enchanted when the Prince and Princess of Wales released a new photograph and video of Princess Charlotte to mark her 11th birthday last Saturday.

Wearing a black and red striped jumper with blue jeans, she was seen smiling in a sunny field in the picture taken by photographer Matt Porteous during the family’s Easter holiday in Cornwall.

Hours later, a separate video from the same trip was posted on social media, in which Charlotte, who’s third in line to the throne, could be seen patting the family’s dogs Otto and Orla, using white shells to write a message in the sand and bowling a cricket ball.

The holiday snap and video are, however, likely to have caused a wistful reaction 5,500 miles away in Montecito, California.

For an old friend of the Duke of Sussex tells me that Harry desperately wishes his own children, Prince Archie, who turned seven yesterday, and Princess Lilibet, four, enjoyed the same sort of childhood as their cousins, Charlotte, Prince George, 12, and Prince Louis, eight.

‘Archie and Lili are having a lovely time in California, but Harry is very sad that they are missing out on life with the rest of their family,’ the pal said.

During his return visit to Britain last September, Harry told a friend that he and wife Meghan planned to educate their children in this country.

The photograph released at the weekend to mark Princess Charlotte’s 11th birthday

Harry has waxed lyrical about life in the US, saying: ‘I enjoy living and bringing my kids up here‘

But he is said to desperately want his children, Archie and Lilibet, to enjoy the same sort of childhood as their cousins, Charlotte, George and Louis

‘Harry feels his children are missing out on the extensive family network that their cousins are enjoying,’ explained the chum, referring to Prince William and Catherine’s offspring, who all currently attend the same public school, £32,000-per-year Lambrook in Berkshire.

‘Harry wants his children to have the very best education,’ the friend added. ‘He has retained his closest friendship group of confidants from his days at school at Ludgrove and Eton. He wants that for his own children.’

The comments may come as a surprise because last year Harry had waxed lyrical about life in the US.

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‘I enjoy living and bringing my kids up here, it’s a part of my life that I never thought I was going to live and it feels as though it’s the life that my mum wanted for me,’ he declared of the late Princess Diana on stage at a conference in New York.

The friend conceded that Harry might have a challenge selling his plan to Meghan, who is said to consider sending children to boarding school ‘barbaric’. The pal said: ‘There is still some negotiation for Harry to have with Meghan. The King, however, is delighted.’

That comment suggests that the duke had mentioned his plans to educate his children in Britain to his father, who he met for tea at Clarence House last September.

Given the ages of Archie and Lilibet, who was controversially given Queen Elizabeth II’s family pet name, they are unlikely to be sent to boarding school across the Atlantic any time soon. Meanwhile, their cousin Prince George is expected to start boarding school (probably Eton College) in September.

Harry hopes to bring Meghan, and possibly their children, with him when he returns to Britain in the summer to publicise the Invictus Games for injured and sick former service personnel. The games are due to be held in Birmingham in July next year.

Even if Archie and Lili do come, it would be unlikely that they would see their cousins, as their parents are still not talking after Harry and Meghan’s disgraceful comments about the Royal Family.

It is, though, sad that the Sussexes’s children are missing out on the happy family life enjoyed by Charlotte and her siblings because of the wilfulness of Harry and Meghan.