The royal baby: Everything you need to know about Meghan and Harry’s big day
Prince Harry’s about to become a dad! Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is due within weeks. Here’s everything you need to know about the soon-to-be newest royal baby.
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After Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex announced their pregnancy in
Sydney last October, it was calculated the baby will arrive later this month, or early May.
Meghan told a wellwisher in Birkenhead, North-West England that she was “six and a half
months” months pregnant in January. The favourite date according to one bookmaker is the
week starting April 22. Irish bookies Paddy Power this week revealed it’s 2-1 Meghan will
give birth then, followed by 3-1 the week after. If the baby arrives on Easter Sunday, April
21, then it will share the birthday of its great-grandmother, The Queen. A few days later on
April 23, it will share with Prince Louis.
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Gender
Although the couple has been careful to keep the gender secret — apparently
adhering to royal tradition in not finding out the sex, it’s not clear whether they do know
and are just not saying. In January Meghan said, “We don’t know, we’re keeping it a surprise
— whichever way, we’ll be thrilled with the outcome.” There were reports at her baby
shower in New York in February that she told her friends she was having a boy but then
close friend Misha Nonoo was spotted buying a pink cashmere baby shawl.
Bookies, at least, reckon it is a girl. Ladbrokes this week had it at 8/11 a girl and evens for a
boy.
And just to confuse things further, there is still suggestion it could be twins. On March 5 the
couple attended a reception at Buckingham Palace where Harry spoke to fellow guest,
Falklands War veteran Simon Weston and may have hinted at twins. Weston told The UK’s
Express he joked they would be getting plenty of sleepless nights soon and says Harry
replied cryptically, “if they have any more than two it will serve him right.”
Name
The general rule in the Royal Family is that direct heirs to the throne take traditional
names — hence Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge went for George and
Charlotte and then the French Louis, banking on the fact their third child is unlikely to take
the throne. Traditional names include Albert, Charles, Edward, Henry, Elizabeth, Anne,
Mary, Victoria and Alice. Parents of children further down the line of succession are freer
with their choices — Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York went for Beatrice and
Eugenie and Princess Anne for Peter and Zara.
As the baby will be seventh in line to the throne, it is likely Harry and Meghan will pick
something meaningful to them, but not too wild. According to society magazine Tatler, top
predictions are Diana, Victoria, Alice, Grace and even Matilda for a girl and Arthur, Albert,
James, Frederick and Spencer for a boy. However, this week Ladbrokes reported a flurry of
betting on the name Elizabeth, putting it as 6/1 favourite, followed by Diana and Victoria at
8/1. The top bets for a boy are Albert and Philip.
Title
As to whether the couple’s little prince or princess will really be one, that is up to the
parents and The Queen. The Queen has to give permission, otherwise a son of a duke would
be an earl and a daughter a lady. Anne opted not to give Peter and Zara any titles to let
them have normal lives, and Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex’s children are
Viscount and Lady. Insiders speculate Harry and Meghan will be more egalitarian too.
Hospital
There has been much speculation over where the baby will be born. Initial reports
suggested the duchess might even favour a home birth, but it was then thought she would
choose The Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington like other Royal Family
members.
Anne was the first member of the Royal Family to have a baby in hospital, choosing St
Mary’s Hospital for the birth of Peter and Zara. She was followed by Princess Diana who had
William and Harry there — William becoming the first direct heir to the throne to be born in
hospital. Catherine subsequently had her three children there.
However, that now looks unlikely as it was officially revealed on Thursday that Harry and
Meghan finally moved into their new home Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor Estate. With
Windsor an hour west of London, it is expected Meghan will choose a private maternity unit
near Windsor or the NHS Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, where Sophie had her children
Louise and James.
Royal Correspondent for the UK’s Sun newspaper Emily Andrews believes there will be no
photo call outside, either.
While Diana and Catherine both appeared on the hospital steps looking immaculate just
hours after giving birth, it’s not certain Meghan will follow suit. One woman who urges her
not to is American business owner Chelsea Hirschhorn who took out a full-page advert in
The New York Times recently asking her not to do the photo call.
The CEO of Fridababy begged her to skip the photos and instead have an “honest
conversation about what women go through during birth and immediately after.”
Meghan’s medical team has not been confirmed, although Catherine had the same royal
doctors for all her births: consultant obstetrician Guy Thorpe-Beeston and consultant
gynaecologist Alan Farthing.
Announcement
When the baby is born, royal protocol dictates that The Queen is notified
first — William telephoned her from the hospital using a specially-encrypted line. A
confirmation of the birth is placed on an easel in front of Buckingham Palace, but a more
modern method has also been announcing it on social media. In preparation, this week
Harry and Meghan launched their own Instagram page where they promise to post
“important announcements.” The @sussexroyal site broke the world-record for the fastest
amassing of a million followers. There is also a gun salute by the King’s Troop Royal Horse
Artillery.
Family involvement
When William and Catherine had Prince George, they took refuge in
the Middleton family home in Berkshire, where grandparents Michael and Carole were on
hand to help the new parents adapt.
Harry and Meghan are also recruiting the aid of family — with Meghan said to be moving
mum Doria Ragland into the new family home for hands-on help in the first few weeks.
Doria was spotted taking baby care classes in Los Angeles last year and she is liked and
respected by her new in-laws. Harry is expected to take a couple of weeks paternity leave as
William did, although he attended the ANZAC Day service in Westminster Abbey just three
days after Louis’ birth, where he famously nodded off.
Meghan will no doubt return to work after a few months maternity leave. When that
happens, it is inevitable the pair will get a nanny, just as William and Catherine did. The
latter employ Norland Nannies — for generations the go-to agency of the upper class, made
famous by their smart brown uniforms. It was through Norland that Catherine recruited
Spanish-born super-nanny Maria Borrallo who has been with the family for years.
Whether the new baby will heal the rift between Meghan and the Markle family is anyone’s
guess, especially with the next big family occasion being a christening.
Christening: If Meghan does not invite her father Thomas Markle to the christening, then it
would appear any hope of reconciliation is lost. However, it is probably unlikely she would
extend the offer to her half-sister Samantha, who says her tell-all book is now a two-volume
epic In the Shadows of the Duchess, launching soon.
Royal babies are usually baptised quickly. George was christened almost exactly three
months after he was born, Princess Charlotte at two months and Louis at 11 weeks. And it is
expected to be a small family affair in Windsor. The days of large formal events are gone
—William was christened aged just six weeks, much to the distress of his mother Diana, who
said she was corralled her into holding a formal event in Buckingham Palace attended by
senior royals. “I was totally excluded, totally exhausted and the photos went on and on. I
blubbed my eyes out,” she later said.
There are traditions for royal babies being christened — the baby will wear the Royal
Christening Robe, a replica of the original Honiton lace gown commissioned by Queen
Victoria for her firstborn Victoria, Princess Royal, in 1841. It was subsequently worn by 62
royal babies, until it wore out and a replica made in 2008.
The baby will also be baptised from the Lily Font — a silver font also commissioned by Queen
Victoria and used ever since.
Godparents
Like William and Catherine have chosen, it is expected Harry and Meghan will
select around five friends to act as godparents. While George had seven godparents
including Zara Tindall, Charlotte and Louis had five each. Contenders include Meghan’s
friends Jessica Mulroney and Serena Williams, George and Amal Clooney and Harry’s long-
time buddies Tom Inskip and Jake Warren. It is unlikely William or Catherine will be
godparents, as Harry is not a godparent to their children, already being their uncle.
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