At 5.26am on Monday morning, London time, Meghan Markle gave birth to a baby boy at Windsor, with Prince Harry by her side.
“We are pleased to announce that Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcomed their firstborn child in the early morning on May 6th, 2019. Their Royal Highnesses’ son weighs 7lbs. 3oz,” the palace said.
“The Duchess and baby are both healthy and well, and the couple thank members of the public for their shared excitement and support during this very special time in their lives.”
Here’s everything we know so far about the birth of the newest royal baby.
Prince Harry is very excited.
Speaking at Windsor on Monday morning, Prince Harry was very keen to tell the world that yes, he’s a dad now, and yes, his wife did a childbirth.
"I'm very excited to announce that Meghan and myself had a baby boy early this morning," he said with a big grin on his face.
"A very healthy boy... mother and baby are doing incredibly well. It's been the most amazing experience I could ever have possibly imagined. How any woman does what they do is beyond comprehension, but we're both absolutely thrilled."
A special mention goes to the horse who stood behind Harry throughout the announcement, nodding enthusiastically at the details.
They haven't chosen a name.
When asked about his baby's name, the Duke of Sussex told media he and his wife were "still thinking about it".
We highly, highly doubt that, but okay.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex maintained royal tradition is some ways...
The official birth announcement - written on an easel - was placed in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace, carried by two butlers, as per tradition.
... but broke it in others.
Unlike the announcements for Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, however, the paper wasn't signed by the doctors who delivered the baby, and therefore didn't identify where the baby was born.
It's a sign the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are adamant about maintaining secrecy around the nature of the birth.
There will be photos of the new family released on Wednesday.
Likely feeling sorry for the media who haven't slept in weeks and have been camped out for a glimpse at a baby, Prince Harry promised there will be a photo call for himself, Meghan and their baby boy on Wednesday.
You can watch Prince Harry announcing the exciting news below. Post continues after video.
He said the family wants "to share it with you guys..." and the photos will mean "everyone can see the baby".
The baby is a Taurus.
Born on May 6, the royal baby is a Taurus, which according to experts means he will be "characterised by charm and tactfulness".
Taurus' are typically intelligent problem-solvers who are open-minded.
Or, you know, star signs are pseudoscience and say precisely nothing about anyone's personality.
We probably know his title.
While we don't know the baby's name, we're fairly certain what his royal title will be.
He's not technically a Prince, like his father, and is expected to be the Earl of Dumbarton, which seems like a fairly bizarre title for a baby who can not yet speak.
This is an historic baby.
While the royal baby is seventh in line for the throne, and therefore pretty unlikely to be king, this is still a historic birth.
As the New York Times put it, he's “the first interracial baby in the British monarchy’s recent history".
We might already know the name.
Key word: might.
The most popular guess remains Arthur, and there's some support for it deep on the royal website.
Let us explain.
Last week, amateur royal detectives realised that three URLs are activated on the royal website, while other potential baby names aren’t.
The URLs in question are:
https://www.royal.uk/prince-arthur
https://www.royal.uk/prince-alexander
https://www.royal.uk/prince-james
While there are no actual pages set up for the three names, they redirect to the home page “https://www.royal.uk/royal-family”.
Listen to The Quicky team on how royals really give birth. Post continues after audio.
Add to the equation that these URLS are the exact same format as Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis‘s, and we have ourselves a case.
But that’s not all.
If you still aren’t convinced, other popular names, such as Grace and Edward, take us to a “Page not found” landing page, rather than redirecting us back to the “Royal Family” home page, which is… suspicious.
A palace spokesperson has since confirmed that the URLs are not suspicious, but were actually set up during some form of a... user experience mission.
"A large number of search term redirects were set up some time ago on royal.uk. This was in order to improve user experience. For guidance you will note that other names preceded by ‘prince’ or ‘princess’ produce the same result," they told Yahoo UK.
We still have a feeling about Arthur, though.
More to come.
Top Comments
Good on them for being understated and private. I never liked how William and Waity would pose on the steps mere hours after, that was unrealistic on so many levels and quite staged and attention-seeking. It seemed so showy and so fake. I'm quite impressed with the quiet dignity and privacy they have made this birth. Very classy, unlike the previous royal births.
Diana did the same when she gave birth to William as it was a moment in history Why shouldn't Kate and William do the same? Meghan and Harry want it both ways, publicity when it suits, privacy when it doesn't and the latter was a carefully crafted publicity maneouver.
I think posing for the public (who fund your existence) for a literal matter of minutes, before leaving and having absolute privacy - being unseen for weeks to months afterwards up until the christening - is *far* less attention-seeking than drawing the circus out with guessing games, conflicting media releases and then the promise of a big camera appearance in a few days (not to mention Gayle King flying in to cover the story for the American public).... But yeah, see it through whatever filter you wish... though I really struggle to see how you imagine all of this to *not* be staged, curated and utterly unrealistic.
I think the Cambridges played the media game significantly better. They recognised the media interest, allowed a carefully controlled and timely photo shoot and then got the hell out of there. No lurking paps in the bushes or chasing their car home, no wild speculation. For ten minutes of irritation they then were able to get on with things in private.
By playing cat and mouse with the press, all the Sussexes have done is increase speculation, rumour and media frenzy. The photocall will be just at staged as anything the Cambridges did - there's no way Meghan is going to turn up looking anything other than perfect.
So wondering if this will keep all those people critising the couple and making assumptions about the Royals keeping this a secret and not letting anyone know, quiet. Coming out and talking to the media was a much more personable way to announce the birth and photos are coming in a couple of days. Much more civilised than a photo call hours after the birth on the steps of the hospital.
The announcement was actually made on Instagram, not in person. Tacky, but meh - inconsequential. I daresay their photocall in two days will be just as uncivilized as one on the steps of a hospital - tamato, tomato.
Yes well I guess they can't win. At least that means theres always an opportunity for people to be snarky. Wouldn't want people to miss out on that.
It's not about "winning", it's simply about being respectful of tradition and duty. There's pushback against the Kardashianisation of the royal family. It's not really hard to fathom why many don't want to see the royals turned into a merched, Instagrammed celebrity family.
I think a lot of people are at what’s known as the ‘bitch eating crackers’ stage with Meghan. For whatever reason, they just don’t like her, so anything she does (no matter how inoffensive) is going to annoy them and bring out the snark. Same goes for Kate, and I suppose the Royal Family in general.