It’s a boy! The Palace announced that the Duchess of Sussex has been safely delivered of a son, following an earlier announcement that she went into labor early this morning with the Duke by her side. The baby weighs 7 lbs 3 oz, and per the statement from Buckingham Palace, the Sussexes are home at Frogmore Cottage with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland.
There hasn’t been a photo-call, but Harry did come to make a brief statement:
Amazing:
The fact that the three are at Frogmore Cottage does indicate that they had a home birth, and it remains to be seen when exactly the public will first see the baby. [Update 3: There’s now reports that Meghan was taken to hospital yesterday, so no home birth, but the family did return home today. No official confirmation one way or the other.]
There’s been some confusion over when and how the birth would be revealed given that the exact location had been withheld and rumor had it that Meghan had no interest in stepping before photographers with her newborn as the Duchess of Cambridge has done on the steps of the Lindo Wing.
The latest I’m seeing is that one photographer will be granted access on Wednesday, and that a handful of images will be released.
Update 1: It’s now sounding like we will get photos on Wednesday. Unclear on whether we’ll get the name at the same time, but…that would make sense.
A framed notice of the birth was posted on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace, so…if you’re touristing it up in London, enjoy! The notice will stay there for 24 hours before being sent to the Privy Council.
A good way to look at it:
Throughout Meghan’s pregnancy, I think many of us had a feeling that the baby would be a girl, but there was a recent, surefire sign that the baby would be a boy courtesy of the Royal Family’s official website. You can read more about that here, but the short version is that it looks like template pages were created for “James,” “Alexander,” and “Arthur.” So, TBD on whether the newest addition is bequeathed one of those monikers.
The announcement further notes that the news was shared with members of the RF, including Harry’s Spencer relatives from his mother’s side.
Update 2: In case you’re wondering what the new baby means for the line of succession…well, then here you go. Baby Boy Sussex is seventh in line to the throne, so he will always be further removed than his father was growing up. Greater distance equals greater privacy, in the end, so his trajectory may end up looking more like that of Princesses Beatrice or Eugenie, albeit with parents who hopefully have better public profiles.
As it stands today, the line of succession looks like this:
- The Prince of Wales
-
The Duke of Cambridge
-
Prince George
-
Princess Charlotte
-
Prince Louis
-
The Duke of Sussex
-
Baby Boy Sussex
-
The Duke of York
-
Princess Beatrice
-
Princess Eugenie
-
The Earl of Wessex
-
The Viscount Severn (James, the Earl of Wessex’s son)
As a reminder, Harry’s son isn’t automatically titled a prince, because he is born the great-grandson of a monarch (and not, like his father was, the grandson). More on that here. As such, it remains to be seen how the infant will be styled. An exception was made for the Cambridge children – while Prince George, as a future king, was automatically a prince, his younger siblings weren’t until the Queen intervened. That exception specifically called out William’s children, and so yet another change would need to be made in Harry and Meghan wish their child to be known as “Prince X” from the get-go. Without that move, the child is the Earl of Dumbarton.