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Alert the town crier, prep the Union Jack flags because a royal baby is coming.
Ever since Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced she was pregnant in October, 2018, we’ve been keeping an eye out for any clues that might hint towards her due date.
Royal kids are… normal kids. Princess Charlotte is proof.
Given that she’s currently at the pointy end of her pregnancy, we’ve done a very thorough deep dive into all the theories currently floating around in the ether.
Here they are…
Sadly it’s not much.
As per usual, the official line touted by the royal family is rather vague.
In an Instagram post shared by @KensingtonRoyal, they simply stated that Meghan is “expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019,” and we’ve not heard a peep from them since.
Typical.
However, normally, people tend to wait until at least the 12-week mark before sharing their pregnancy news. So if we then state that Meghan was already 12 weeks pregnant on Oct 15, this brings her to 40 weeks (the average human gestation period) on April 29.
Again… it ain’t much but it seems like neither she or Prince Harry are aware of the sex of their baby either.
While speaking at an International Women’s Day panel, the Duchess shared a few details of her pregnancy.
“It’s funny, I’d actually been joking these past few weeks; I’d seen this documentary on Netflix about feminism and one of the things they said during pregnancy was, ‘I feel the embryonic kicking of feminism,'” she said.
“I loved that. So boy or girl, whatever it is, we hope that that’s the case.”
Despite this, Duchess Catherine didn’t disclose the sex of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, prior to their birth either.
This theory might be a bit of a stretch, but here goes.
Shortly after announcing her pregnancy, the Duchess of Sussex was spotted wearing three stacked, jewel rings which looked to be a green peridot, sapphire and diamond. Incidentally all three of them are birthstones.
Peridot aligns with Meghan's birthday in August, Prince Harry's is sapphire and the diamond is the birthstone for April.
Coincidence? We'll have to wait and see.
Using Meghan's sister-in-law Duchess Catherine, as our guide, we estimate that there's generally a month's difference between when royals go on 'maternity leave' to when they give birth.
For Prince Louis, the Duchess of Cambridge stopped making public appearances on March 22, 2017 and gave birth to him on April 23.
Although Kensington Palace has yet to confirm whether Meghan is currently on maternity leave, or when she will be on maternity leave, according to Vanity Fair her Commonwealth Day appearance on March 12 with Prince Harry, Prince William and Duchess Catherine was her "last official royal engagement".
Despite this she and Prince Harry did visit New Zealand House in London in the aftermath of the Christchurch terror attacks to sign a book of condolence on behalf of the royal family, which took place on March 19.
Given that pregnant women generally choose to begin their leave from roughly eight to four weeks before giving birth, this one again puts Meghan's due date towards the end of April or early May.
When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were on their Australian tour, it was thought Aussie singer, Missy Higgins may have given away her due date.
After meeting the Duchess at a Sydney event, the Scar-singer shared a photo of the occasion with the following caption:
“What an honour to meet the beautiful Duchess today! She was such a sweetheart. I said I felt sorry for her having to do all these meet-and-greets while four months pregnant! What a trooper,” she wrote.
Naturally royal fans and the media zoned in on the fact that Missy wrote "four months pregnant," which posits her due date from mid to late March - which has already passed.
However, Missy later clarified her comments while appearing on Channel 10's The Project.
"I just made it up,” she said.
“I read somewhere that people had worked out that she was three-to-four months pregnant because she said she was due in the Spring.
“So I just wrote that without even thinking, because I thought, ‘everyone knows she’s about four months’ pregnant,’ and then it was all over newspapers in England and France. Yeah no, we weren’t hanging out like best buds and she wasn’t telling me her deepest secrets.”
Unlike Duchess Catherine and Princess Diana, early reports seem to indicate that Meghan Markle might not be giving birth at St Mary's Lindo Wing in Paddington.
According to The Sun, the couple have chosen a location closer to their Windsor Home, which is a 50 minute drive from London.
“Harry and Meghan realise there is intense public interest but this baby is not a direct heir to the throne and they want the birth to be as private as possible," said an unnamed source.
“Meghan is nervous about complications such as an emergency Caesarean and doesn’t want the pressure of having to look immaculate on the hospital steps just hours later.
“Like any anxious first-time mum, she’s worried about the birth itself.
Again this is unsubstantiated.
On February 2 a report from The Sun announced that in addition to a midwife, Meghan would hiring Lauren Mishcon as her doula to provide emotional support and guidance throughout her labour, and thus breaking another royal tradition. A closer link was established when Mishcon was found to be the wife of Oliver Mishcon, whose grandfather owned the law firm Mishcon de Reya, which handled Princess Diana's divorce from Prince Charles in 1996.
Despite this, Mischon has since denied the reports, which she said got out of hand after she shared a joking status on her personal Facebook group that read, "I’m busy in Spring. I could not possibly say."
“The more I deny it, the more people believe it," she told The JC.
“It’s the result of a Facebook joke on my personal page and a very tenuous connection between my husband’s grandfather and Princess Diana."
And there goes that rumour...
Are you excited for the royal baby? What do you think the name will be? Tell us in a comment below.