Well, if you’re stuck at work right now, and you’re growing antsy with the vague feeling that today should be a national holiday, we have some information that may help to explain your frustration:
It’s Meghan Markle’s 39th birthday!
Okay, so that might not be a good enough excuse to punch out early and hoist a few wheatgrass shots in honor of the Duchess of SoCal, but it’s a pretty big deal, nonetheless.
After all, Meghan is capping off one of the most eventful years of what has thus far been a very, very productive life.
This was, as you’ll recall, the year that Meghan and Prince Harry stepped down from their roles as senior members of the royal family.
They made history with that bold stroke — and then they made it again by pulling up stakes and relocating 5,400 miles to the west.
Yes, when Meghan and Harry moved to America with their infant son in tow, public opinion was sharply divided.
Many praised the Duke and Duchess for doing what they had to do in order to protect their son from the encroachments of the British tabloid press and the sky-high expectations of the royal family.
Others, however — mostly royal traditionalists in the UK — felt that Meghan and her man were betraying and humiliating the Queen.
For a long time, it looked as though the Queen felt that way, as well.
Rumors of bad blood within the royal family have been circulating for months, and the situation has only worsened in recent weeks thanks to the publication of a pair of new tell-alls.
The fact that neither party appeared to be interested in putting those rumors to rest seemed to confirm that Harry and Meghan were not on the greatest of terms with the rest of the royals.
But today something subtly remarkable happened.
First, the the official royal family Twitter account tweeted a birthday greeting to Meghan:
“Wishing The Duchess of Sussex a very happy birthday!” read the tweet, which was accompanied by balloon and birthday cake emojis.
For obvious reasons — not the least of which is that she’s 94 years old — the Queen doesn’t do any tweeting of her own, but the account is known to represent her, and so, it’s safe to say that QE2 approved that message.
Moments later, royal-watchers were caught off guard by what might be an even more surprising birthday shout-out:
“Wishing a very happy birthday to The Duchess of Sussex today!” tweeted Prince William and Kate Middleton’s official account, closely echoing the sentiment expressed by the Queen.
(They even used the same emojis!)
We probably don’t need to tell you that rumors of a bitter feud between Meghan and Kate have been circulating for years, and have been corroborated by some very credible insiders.
Some have even claimed that the situation has gotten worse since the Sussexes moved overseas, as Kate feels that she’s been burdened with additional work and responsibilities in the absence of her fellow duchess.
But apparently, the animosity was greatly exaggerated — or at the very least, Kate was able to set it aside for a day.
Honestly, the latter explanation seems more likely, but hopefully Meg won’t waste too much time dwelling on that today.
We’d like to add out voice to the chorus of millions wishing the Duchess of Sussex a very, very happy birthday. Here’s hoping next year is a little less eventful!