Prince Harry was reportedly moved to hush up the details surrounding son Archie’s birth.
“One source described Harry as ‘morbidly obsessed’ with keeping Archie’s birth as secret as possible,” writes royal expert Katie Nicholl in her new book, The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown.
This push for secrecy reportedly violated an “unwritten contract between the royals and the public,” who were anxious and expecting to know full details about the new royal baby once Meghan Markle was born.
“Things were so tense behind the scenes that more than one official – I know from personal experience – broke down in tears of frustration and despair,” added Rebecca English, royal editor of the Daily Mail.
The usual protocol after a royal birth is for the father, mother and newborn baby to pose on the hospital steps, surrounded by well-wishers and photographers, and answer a few questions before driving away.
But the Duke and Duchess of Sussex wanted to change all that, according to Nicholl.
When Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was born on May 6, 2019, the couple managed to stun the press when he actually arrived.
“Harry had always enjoyed outsmarting the media,” writes Nicholl. “He and Meghan were delighted that their son was delivered safely at London’s Portland Private Hospital, even before the Palace Press Office confirmed that the Duchess was in labour.”
Two days later, the pair attended a brief photo op with a lone reporter to ask questions.
“But it all felt staged, with pre-approved questions, a journalist and a photographer,” continues Nicholl. “It showed the growing gap between what the public expected of Harry and what he was committed to giving.”
The Suits graduate had looked tired and uncomfortable at the time. Similarly, Prince William’s wife Kate Middleton also admitted that she found the postnatal photoshoots difficult, with Nicholl writing that the Princess of Wales “accepted because one day she’s going to be queen and mother of a king, so there was a legitimate public interest.”
Additionally, Markle, 41, and Harry, 38, also had a private christening and refused to release the names of Archie’s godparents.
However, Nicholl notes that while the Sussexes have “served an ace in their quest for privacy, ripping another page out of the royal notebook,” so has the Crown’s relationship with “the press, the broadcasters, and by extension the public who are felt betrayed by the experience – whether that was a fair expectation or not.”
