Dream team: Prince Harry joins Prince William and Kate at the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations in June 2016
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What were you doing in 2016? It’s the question everyone is answering online this week as social media users escape the bleak reality of January to the warmer climes of a nostalgic past. A quick flick through the Royal Family’s camera reel from 10 years ago reveals a House of Windsor that’s almost unrecognisable: Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate were a three-headed dream team; no one had heard of ‘Megxit’; and Queen Elizabeth II was celebrating her 90th birthday with her beloved Prince Philip by her side. There were so many senior royals still on the roster (Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor among them), that Prince Edward and Sophie, countess of Wessex (now the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh) were relatively minor public figures and had yet to see their profiles bloom. The then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge started the year with a private family ski holiday to the French Alps and delighted royal watchers by sharing adorable photos of a two-year-old Prince George and a 10-month-old Princess Charlotte frolicking in the snow. The following month, Prince William and Kate welcomed Barack Obama to Kensington Palace. (2016 was also the year Donald Trump was first elected President of the United States – and the year of Brexit). A triumphant tour of Canada followed for the Waleses, as did a trip to India and Bhutan. That summer saw the Rio Olympics and a particularly spectacular Trooping the Colour as the nation gathered to toast to Her Majesty’s milestone. There was heartache for Princess Beatrice, who split from long-term boyfriend Dave Clark, and Mike and Zara Tindall were struck by tragedy when a pregnancy ended in miscarriage. It was also the year Prince Harry met a Californian actress from a US legal drama for a first date at Soho House; a meeting that led to a royal wedding, Meghanmania, and eventually a rift in the royal family that, a decade ago, seemed unimaginable.