If you love The Daily Beast’s royal coverage, then we hope you’ll enjoy The Royalist, an all-new members-only series for Beast Inside. Become a member to get it in your inbox on Sunday.
Harry and Meghan are due to have a baby at some point in the next few weeks.
Beyond that essential and unarguable fact, little is known, thanks to a royal policy of obfuscation, designed to protect Harry and Meghan’s privacy and that of their new baby as far as possible.
Meghan and Harry issued a statement on Thursday telling the world, in no uncertain terms, to keep out of their birth plans.
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very grateful for the goodwill they have received from people throughout the United Kingdom and around the world as they prepare to welcome their baby.
“Their Royal Highnesses have taken a personal decision to keep the plans around the arrival of their baby private. The Duke and Duchess look forward to sharing the exciting news with everyone once they have had an opportunity to celebrate privately as a new family.”
Unlike there were for Kate Middleton’s three children, there will be no photographs on the steps of any hospitals and no announcements on easels at Buckingham Palace.
Harry and Meghan’s staff will announce when Meghan is in labor, and, we must presume, will issue an update when the child is born. The announcement, and first pictures, may come first via the couple’s phenomenally popular Instagram page.
The decision to impose an embargo on all other information to the media is understandable, of course, as their child is not in the direct line of succession as George, Charlotte, and Louis are.
So what do we actually know—or think we know—about the birth of Baby Sussex?
Where?
A major known unknown is where the new royal baby will be born. Initially, it was widely assumed that the baby would arrive into the world at the exclusive and private Lindo Wing of St Mary’s hospital in Paddington, London, where Kate and Princess Diana both gave birth.
Staff there, it was reported, were told not to take any holiday in April, raising speculation that Meghan and Harry were plumping for the well-oiled machine of the Lindo. Because of the security concerns that attend all royals, and Meghan in particular, this is the preferred option of the cops who guard the royal family.
In the past few weeks, however, rumors started to gather a head of steam suggesting that Meghan didn’t want to give birth at the Lindo Wing, not least because it would feel like a “goldfish bowl” of public scrutiny, with hordes of press lined up outside as they had been for Kate.
There were also suggestions that Meghan didn’t want to appear to be copying Kate’s iconic moment on the steps of the Lindo Wing. The NHS Frimley Park Hospital, near the couple’s new home, Frogmore Cottage, has emerged as another possibility.
This week, a surprising new twist to the tale: Meghan wants to give birth at her new home, which she and Harry only moved into last week, according to a report. A friend told the Mail that Meghan has “sailed through” her pregnancy and that home birth “is her favored choice, but it obviously depends on how things are nearer the time.”
When?
The next question, familiar to every expectant parent and their friends and family, is what day the baby will arrive. Here at The Daily Beast’s royal HQ, we have heard a wide spread of dates, from April 12 to May 4 being bandied about.
The betting markets can be, unsurprisingly, a good guide to royal baby probabilities, and currently all the money is for the third week of April, 15 to 22. If The Daily Beast was going to place a bet, we’d shoot for the auspicious implications of their kid being born on the Queen’s birthday, April 21 (currently 5/1 with Paddy Power).
The Media Pack
With no obvious hospital to gather outside, and no day of baby photo-op, the palace are asking media to gather in the Long Walk at Windsor Castle for their outside broadcasts. An announcement will be made when Meghan is in labor, and, one presumes, when the baby arrives, but the happy couple and their new baby won’t make a public appearance.
Who?
The question of who will be in attendance for the birth of Meghan’s kid has also consumed acres of space in the U.K. media. She has made it clear she does not want the Queen’s team of male obstetricians, Alan Farthing and Guy Thorpe-Beeston, closely involved in the actual birth, deriding them as “men in suits.”
Community midwives are available on Britain’s free health service for women who opt for home births, but it is likely Meghan will hire a private midwife and doula, a non-medical assistant who helps with practical guidance, massage, and emotional support.
One name linked to this role is a doula named Lauren Mishcon, the wife of Oliver Mishcon, whose grandfather headed up attorneys Mishcon de Reya, the firm that represented Princess Diana during her divorce from Prince Charles in 1996.
First Appearance
The world might want Meghan to appear on the hospital steps with her baby in her arms, but Meghan doesn’t. A home birth removes all that pressure very neatly, but even if Meghan does resort to a hospital, she’ll slip out a back door when she is ready to go. The statement insisting on privacy makes it clear we shouldn’t expect to see hairstylists arriving ahead of her departure as they did for Kate; Kate owns the primped and preened steps of the Lindo Wing moment.
The first time most of us are likely to get a glimpse of this new bubba will be on Harry and Meghan’s new Instagram feed, a thoroughly democratic way to introduce their kid to the world. This is not likely to be until a few days after the birth, when, the palace says, the new parents will take part in a photo call with their new baby within the grounds of Windsor Castle attended by one photographer, one reporter, and one TV camera.
Name
The royal baby name game is in full swing. If she’s a girl, which the world appears to have decided she is after Serena Williams accidentally dropped a hint, one really can’t see her being given a first name of anything other than Diana, but Victoria, Alice, Elizabeth, Alexandra, and Grace are all worthy of consideration as middle names. “Doria” may be in there for Meghan’s mum, and there are other wonderful names from Meghan’s mother’s side: Mattie, Texie, Jeremiah, Claudie, Lily, Lois, Ava, and Wisdom.
