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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Announce She’s Pregnant Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Announce She’s Pregnant
(about 5 hours later)
Another royal baby is on the way. LONDON — Another royal baby is on the way.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are expecting a child in the spring, Kensington Palace announced on Monday.Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are expecting a child in the spring, Kensington Palace announced on Monday.
The announcement comes five months after the royal couple married at Windsor Castle in England. Prince Harry, 34, is a grandson of Queen Elizabeth II; Ms. Markle, 37, is an American former actress. The announcement comes five months after the royal couple, riding a wave of popularity both in Britain and abroad, married at Windsor Castle near London, a union watched by millions of people on screens around the world.
The couple landed in Sydney on Monday morning to start a 16-day tour through Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. Ms. Markle was photographed carrying purple binders, leading some to speculate hours before the announcement that she might have been trying to disguise physical signs of a pregnancy. Prince Harry, 34, a grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, and Ms. Markle, 37, are widely seen as likable and approachable, and she brought elements to the royal family that would have been unthinkable not so long ago: She is American, a former actress, biracial, divorced and a self-described feminist. Their union has been hailed as giving the royals a more accessible, modern and inclusive image.
Prince Harry said last year that the couple intended to have a child soon. “Hopefully we’ll start a family in the near future,” he told BBC News in November 2017, after they announced their engagement. The couple landed in Sydney on Monday morning to start a 16-day tour through Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. Speculation about Ms. Markle’s pregnancy was first fueled by the buttoned-up outfit she wore on Friday to the wedding of Princess Eugenie, a first cousin of Prince Harry’s. She was then photographed carrying purple binders hours before the announcement, leading some to suggest that she might have been trying to disguise physical signs of a pregnancy.
The child will be seventh in line to the British throne. Prince Harry said last year that the couple intended to have a child soon. “Hopefully we’ll start a family in the near future,” he told BBC News in November, after they had announced their engagement.
And he or she will most likely produce a media spectacle, as royal babies tend to command worldwide attention. The child would be seventh in line to the British throne, after, in order, Charles, Prince of Wales, father of Prince Harry; Harry’s older brother, Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge; the three young children of William and his wife, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge; and Harry, himself. But under current rules, the new royal baby would not be titled prince or princess.
The most recent British royal baby arrived this year, when Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, gave birth to Prince Louis, her third child with Prince William. Prince George, the couple’s eldest child, was born in 2013, and their daughter, Princess Charlotte, was born in 2015. According to a 1917 decree by King George V, the great-grandchildren of the sovereign would not be called princes or princesses, with one exception, the eldest male descendant in the direct male line — in other words, Prince William’s first child, Prince George. Queen Elizabeth revised that rule in 2012, to give that title to all of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s children, so George’s siblings are Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
Prince Harry and Ms. Markle are mainly in the region for the Invictus Games, a sporting event Harry founded in 2014 that starts on Saturday and that gives sick and injured military personnel and veterans the chance to compete in various sports, including wheelchair basketball and sitting volleyball. Unless the queen makes a similar change on their behalf, any children of Prince Harry and Ms. Markle’s would be titled earl or lady.
Even so, the new royal baby will be the subject of a media frenzy, judging by reactions to the wedding, and to Monday’s news. Shortly after the announcement of Ms. Markle’s pregnancy, Twitter was ablaze with excitement, much of it with a #RoyalBaby hashtag.
“Meghan is pregnant this is not a drill we are going to have POC’s (Princes and Princesses of Colour) what a time to be ALIVE,” a Twitter user wrote.
“So incredibly happy for Harry and Meghan! That baby will be both beautiful on the outside and inside,” added another.
After the announcement of a vernal royal birth, the question “when is spring?” spiked in Google searches. The announcement also meant that Ms. Markle’s due date might coincide with Britain’s labors to leave the European Union: Brexit is scheduled for March 29.
“Please let it be March 29th,” Simon McCoy, a BBC journalist wrote on Twitter.
Prince Harry and Ms. Markle are in Australia in part for the Invictus Games, a sporting event for sick and injured military veterans that includes wheelchair basketball and sitting volleyball. Harry founded the games in 2014, and the latest iteration starts on Saturday.
The duke and duchess will also take part in dozens of other public events — 76 in all. They will visit a rural Australian town struggling with drought, go to the Sydney Opera House for a celebration of its 75th anniversary, pet a koala in a Sydney zoo and meet Indigenous Australian leaders on Fraser Island, off eastern Australia.The duke and duchess will also take part in dozens of other public events — 76 in all. They will visit a rural Australian town struggling with drought, go to the Sydney Opera House for a celebration of its 75th anniversary, pet a koala in a Sydney zoo and meet Indigenous Australian leaders on Fraser Island, off eastern Australia.
Given the excitement about the baby, they will most likely draw even larger crowds than had been expected. The baby buzz could translate into even larger crowds than they had been expected to draw.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia was among many to congratulate the couple on Twitter. “What fantastic news!” he wrote. “Australia is thrilled for you both.”
A royal spokeswoman said that Doria Ragland, Ms. Markle’s mother, was “very happy about this lovely news, and she looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild.”A royal spokeswoman said that Doria Ragland, Ms. Markle’s mother, was “very happy about this lovely news, and she looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild.”
The most recent British royal baby arrived this year, when the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to Prince Louis.