Like most things to do with the royal family, giving birth also involves some unusual protocols.
As Meghan Markle and Prince Harry begin the countdown to the arrival of their first baby, due to arrive sometime in April, Meghan better start getting her head around some of these strange rules the new parents will b expected to follow.
Obviously the pair is unlike any other royal couple, but they're still bound to some weird years-old customs that their relatives have had to follow before them.
Here are a few of the strange rules the pair have to adhere too:
KEEPING THE GENDER UNDER WRAPS.
Not even Harry or Meghan will know the gender of their baby until the actual birth.
“I asked her if she was having a girl or a boy and she said she didn’t know,” 9-year-old Kitty Dudley, who met the Duchess in Birkenhead, told Hello! magazine.
“Meghan said there are ‘strong opinions about (the baby’s sex), but it’s a 50/50 split!’” wellwisher Jean Elliott also told People.
Prince Harry apparently admitted in the past that he was hoping for a girl.
At an Invictus Games event in Sydney back in October, one woman in the crowd shouted out, “I hope it’s a girl!” to which Prince Harry, chuckling, replied, “So do I!”
QUEEN ELIZABETH MUST BE INFORMED FIRST.
Queen Elizabeth will be the couple’s first call shortly after the birth.
Prince William always informed his grandmother first after wife Kate gave birth. According to the Daily Mail, Prince William made the call on an encrypted phone.
After the Queen is informed, then the royal couple’s staff will start to inform other high-profile individuals, such as the prime minister.
NAMING THEIR BABY AFTER ROYALTY.
Members of the royal family typically name their children after past or present royals.
Prince William and Kate Middleton have stuck to this tradition — and Harry and Meghan are expected to do the same.
So essentially we can expect another plain old boring name.
WRAPPED IN A ROYAL KNIT BLANKET.
Harry and Meghan’s baby will be swaddled in a knit blanket made in Nottingham, England.
A local family-owned company called G.H. Hurt & Son has been producing handmade lace knitted blankets for more than 100 years and has provided several items to recent royals, particularly for their child’s public introduction to the world, according to Good Housekeeping.
A WHOLE TEAM OF MIDWIVES.
A team of midwives are typically present for the birth of a royal baby.
“We had a huge team,” said Professor Tiong Ghee Teoh, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, told Town And Country Magazine in April 2018.
“For anything that could possibly go wrong we had a team of people behind each specialty. Everyone was sworn to secrecy about who it was.”
Need a break? Then visit iRadiobreaks.ie.
