Clue hidden in Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s baby backtrack

Meghan has just done the one thing she was reportedly determined to avoid — and it suggests she and Prince Harry have something big planned.

If Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, really wanted to surprise people she has plenty of options.

She could remove herself and Harry from Instagram forthwith; ditch her vast and envy-inducing wardrobe of couture for a veritable flotilla of demure mid-range coat dresses; or be papped finally getting Kate to go on a girls-only pilates date.

Though not quite as extreme (Meghan in a Boden shirt dress — can you even imagine?), the newest Duchess on the block, and husband Prince Harry, have made something of a shocking decision, only a month and a bit after they welcomed our Future Instagram Lord and Saviour, Master Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, into the world.

They’ve just gone and hired a nanny.

Both royal biographer Katie Nicholl and Harper’s Bazaar’s royal correspondent Omid Scobie have independently reported that the Sussexes have employed a professional to help take care of the littlest royal.

Meghan and Harry with their new arrival. Picture: Dominic Lipinski — WPA Pool/Getty Images

What we know about this person is particularly limited. She is a woman. She is British-born. (Am I the only one imagining Mary Poppins-esque figure turning up on the doorstep of Frogmore Cottage with a vast carpetbag and a twinkle in her eye?)

We also know that she is not living in, as say the Cambridges’ wonder nanny Maria Borrallo does and that she was forced to sign an “extensive” nondisclosure agreement, thus preventing her ever selling her story to the highest bidder or indirectly blabbing after four glasses of pinot grigio down the pub.

Lastly, the mystery nanny is not doing nights, thus the former Suits star is experiencing the exquisite hell of sleep deprivation well known to all new parents.

“Meghan’s been up in the night nursing, feeding on demand every few hours,” Nicholl has told Entertainment Tonight. “Apparently he’s a hungry little baby.”

The couple released this sweet snap to celebrate Harry’s first Father’s Day. Picture: AFP/The Duke and Duchess of Sussex/@SussexRoyal

Okay, so it was always expected that Meghan and Harry would hire someone to help care for Archie. (And, if you could afford it, why the hell would you not want to employ some miraculously efficient and cheerful figure to whisk your mewling offspring away every time you just wanted to aimlessly scroll through Instagram and eat a Tim Tam uninterrupted?)

However, the fact they have procured someone in only a matter of weeks after Archie’s arrival is unexpected. In the lead up to his birth, reports had circulated claiming that the Sussexes were dead keen to manage on their own over the UK summer.

By contrast, Kate and William got his own former nanny Jessie Webb in to help care for wee Prince George when he was two and a half-months-old. (They hired Norland Nanny par excellence Maria when the future King was eight months old.)

The fact that there is now some (let’s assume) bosomy Mrs Doubtfire figure cradling Archie suggests that despite being on maternity leave, Meghan and Harry are revving up for a bumper second half of the year.

It has been widely reported that they are planning on packing up Archie’s organic cotton onesies and recycled bamboo rattle collection to head to Africa as a family of three for an official trip around October. On the suspected itinerary: Botswana, Angola, Malawi and South Africa.

Meghan and Harry with Kate at the Trooping of the Colour earlier this month. Picture: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

And if you think a jaunt to a slew of foreign nations doesn’t sound like demanding work, you’d be wrong. Foreign tours are arduous marathons of greeting nervously sweating dignitaries, making small talk and assiduously avoiding any diplomatic blunders a la Grandpa Philip.

For Meghan, they also involve military levels of wardrobe planning.

Last year during her tour to Australia and the South Pacific, she worked her way through 42 ensembles. Imagine having to pack for three to four events a day, each of which require immaculate, appropriate outfits that have not been scrunched up in your suitcase for weeks on end? (All while constantly labouring under the knowledge that even the tiniest sartorial misstep and the tabloids will have a veritable field day.)

There are other thrilling things on the Harry ’n’ Meghan calendar too — there is their Netflix special with Oprah Winfrey about mental health to finish, Archie’s christening to plan (which will happen in July) and even more renovations for Frogmore Cottage to oversee.

So, it makes sense they need a trusted face to whisk Archie away for a cuddle in some remote, soundproof corner of the house while they huddle over a spreadsheet.

And all of that is good news for us, the public, who are voraciously hungry for more Meghan and Harry out and about charming the world.

In fact, if a guaranteed pair of hands to mind their bundle of joy is all they need to gift us with more heart-melting appearances at public events, I’ll put my hand up. Hell, I’d probably even do nights …

Daniela Elser is a royal expert and freelance writer. Continue the conversation @DanielaElser