London - He may be only a week old, but the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, has already been commemorated in a cartoon.
The seventh in line to the throne, who was born on May 6, has been given a rare honour by Disney – a beautiful watercolour Winnie-the-Pooh animation to celebrate the birth of the new royal baby.
Hand-drawn by senior principal artist Kim Raymond, the heart-warming story depicts the world’s favourite bear delivering a book to Harry and Meghan’s son.
The 25-second clip sees Pooh setting off from the Hundred Acre Wood and strolling down the Long Walk to Windsor Castle with a gift carried carefully under his arm. The Bear of Very Little Brain crosses meadows of wildflowers and hops over a river, before he arrives at the Queen’s residence.
In the final frame, Archie’s name can be seen on his cot as Pooh sits beside Harry and Meghan while they leaf through his present, a blue book with a crown on the cover.
Winnie-the-Pooh is known to be close to the couple’s heart. When Meghan was working as an actress and running her own blog and lifestyle website The Tig, she cited a Winnie-the-Pooh book – The Tao Of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff– as one of her favourites.
And it’s not the bear’s first brush with royalty. In 2016, Pooh met the Queen in a special book celebrating their 90th birthdays.
Archie has had other visitors in recent days. Princess Diana’s sister, Lady Jane Fellowes, was one of the first people invited to meet him. In a touching tribute to his late mother, Harry arranged for his aunt to come to Frogmore Cottage. "It was a very sweet and touching gesture," a source told the Daily Mail.