Meghan Markle celebrated her 41st birthday yesterday, and the royal family marked the duchess' big day by publicly sending her a set of pretty straightforward, no frills messages.

As Markle resides in Montecito, California, it's likely that she spent her special day in the US with Prince Harry and their two kids, Archie, three and Lilibet ('Lili'), one.

And her royal relatives opted for simple 'happy birthday' sentiments to show her some love from afar.

Leading the tributes were Kate Middleton and Prince William, whose message, shared to their official Twitter account, read: 'Wishing a happy birthday to The Duchess of Sussex!'

They posted a photo of a Markle at the National Service of Thanksgiving, held at St Paul’s Cathedral, during the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.

At the time the Duchess of Sussex wore a graceful white dress coat from Dior's haute couture spring/summer 22 collection.

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall joined in, sharing the same photograph to their @ClarenceHouse Twitter account with an accompanying message that read: 'Happy birthday to The Duchess of Sussex!'

The Queen, however, didn't share a birthday message via the royal family Twitter account.

For Markle's 40th last year, Her Majesty did commemorate her granddaughter-in-law's milestone birthday, posting a trio of photos, including one from her and Markle's visit to Cheshire on the anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Another photo was a sweet family shot of Markle, Prince Harry and baby Archie.

Markle launched the initiative 40x40 for her previous birthday, which encouraged people from across the world to donate 40 minutes of their time to help women who have suffered job loss.

'Because I’m turning 40 I’m asking 40 friends to donate 40 minutes of their time to help mentor a woman who is mobilising back into the workforce,' she said in a video at the time.

'Over 2m in the US alone and tens of millions around the world have lost their jobs due to Covid, and I think if we all do it and all commit 40 minutes to some sort of act of service we can create a ripple effect.'

Earlier this year it was reported that Markle and Prince Harry had a 'very private' video call with Middleton to mark the Duchess of Cambridge's own 40th.

Royal expert Christopher Andersen told Us Weekly the Sussexes were part of Middleton's birthday from a distance.

'They wished her a happy birthday. [It was] very private. Harry and Meghan were not about to post anything the way they did two years ago,' he told the news outlet at the time.

Markle and Prince Harry's return to the UK with their children for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in June marked the family's first visit since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped down as senior working royals in 2020.

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