You know what literally JUST occurred to me? Remember the story about Prince Charles, Prince William and Kate hiring two new crisis managers/communications peeps? We all clowned on them because the crisis managers aren’t supposed to start until May, which doesn’t bode well for “the Windsors understanding that they are, in fact, in a crisis.” But what I just realized is that the May start date will coincide with what will probably be a particularly nasty new chapter to the smear campaign against Harry and Meghan just as they’re about to welcome Lil’ Montecito. THAT makes sense, doesn’t it? The “crisis” these new guys have to manage is not the one that’s been happening for the past month (or the past three years). The “crisis” is all of the goodwill Harry and Meghan will enjoy when they welcome their little Princess of Montecito. That’s depressing, isn’t it?
Anyway, it sounds like Kensington Palace and Clarence House are getting a head start. How else to explain Page Six running this story as an “exclusive”? The exclusive: Meghan plans to have a home birth. Okay? And?
Meghan Markle is planning a home birth for her second child with Prince Harry at their sprawling Montecito estate. The Duchess of Sussex is expecting her daughter in early summer, royal sources tell us, and the baby will be the first-ever royal to be born in the US.
While pregnant with her son Archie, Markle initially dreamed of having a home birth at Frogmore Cottage, the UK home she shared with Harry, while attended by an all-female midwife team. But when Archie was a week overdue, Markle was taken to London’s private Portland hospital, where she gave birth in the early hours on May 6, 2019, with Harry by her side.
“Meghan’s plan was to have a home birth with Archie, but you know what they say about the best-laid plans,” a source told us. “In the end, her doctors advised her to go to hospital and all she was interested in was about delivering Archie safely.
The source added, “But she has a beautiful home in California, it’s a beautiful setting to give birth to her baby girl.”
If need be, the couple are close to Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, Calif., voted one of the best hospitals in America. According to those in the know, Markle is planning to take maternity leave. During her last maternity leave, she managed to guest edit the British Vogue “Changemakers” edition and finalize the capsule wardrobe for the Smart Works charity, of which she was patron. “She doesn’t stop,” said one source who knows her.
A royal insider said: “It’s unclear, now that Meghan and Harry are private citizens if they will announce the birth, or what that will look like. This time around, they don’t have to adhere to the royal protocol.”
A rep for the Sussexes didn’t respond for comment.
I remember the stories about how Meghan wanted a home birth with Archie too, but I don’t even think that she was, like, rushed to the hospital when she was overdue. I got the impression that she had a few birthing plans and she was ready for different options. I assume it’s the same thing time around, and in any case, it isn’t any of our business. While TMZ is known to get their hands on birth certificates before the ink is dry, the American media isn’t going to pester M&H about birthing plans or announcing the delivery doctor or the names of the midwives or whatever. I hope Meghan brings Lil’ Montecito into the world with entirely peaceful vibes. Oh, and this sounds like Kensington Palace just making some guesses. They must be freaking out about M&H stealing their keen thunder. Bwahahaha.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Backgrid.
Page 6 knows jack all
Also why in the world would she need maternity leave when she essentially is a stay at home mom who works from home ?
What is this nonsense
90% of what is printed on Page Six is just made up BS to sell copies of The New York Post.
I think even if you work from home, you need a break when you have a new baby. I hope she takes a proper maternity leave.
A break and maternity leave are not the same thing
Leave directly implies absence from a post
She works from home and can employ all the help she needs
No doubt she will induce self care and slow down whatever work she has for her projects and initiatives
But it’s not the same thing , and my comment is not a dig on her or her lifestyle
She barely even for Archie. She still worked behind the scenes on a lot of projects and had them fully formed to launch when she returned. And prepped for the upcoming tour.
Agreed, all made up. They have no access to them so they know NOTHING. and it sounds exactly like before, with Archie. Yawn, don’t they ever get tired of it?
Pretty apparent that the British Media has NOTHING that drives their business better than Meghan/Harry. Now we are moving into the rinse and repeat cycle of Meghan’s pregnancy with Archie. They have ZERO idea of what’s going on so that will just recycle the Archie stories. I think in Meghan’s interview with Oprah she dismissed all of the “home birth” rumors. She basically said that she was never offered the Lindo Wing Birth for Archie. I think William and Kate was very concerned that Archie’s birth would overshadow George’s birth. I personally think it did but that’s just me. Prince Charles/William are preparing because they will be asked questions and how do they explain that they haven’t spoken to Harry about the birth or that they didn’t get a chance to ask the color of the baby. Not to mention it’s a girl and everyone will be waiting on that name
I work from home and I’m taking my 12 weeks of allotted family leave this summer. Babies depend on their mothers to…you know…survive and stuff. It’s not a walk in the park. I’m not going to be on the phone with clients and designing programs for my company while learning to be a mother to a newborn. Then there’s that whole pesky bonding with your child thing. Crazy stuff, parenting.
And my husband and I will have help too from my mother and my in-laws. Still not a walk in the park.
From my experience working from home is often more exhausting because you put in longer hours. Any pregnant woman deserves maternity leave. I think the way maternity leave is treated in the US is not good.
All while running for president apparently!
I can confidently predict that she will not be using the Lindo wing LOL!
omg, where does that story even come from?
Page Six is recycling the same story ran about Archie’s birth in 2018. What “royal source” would have any access to what Harry and Meghan will do in California?
Also, the discussion of “maternity leave” is just more BS to stir up the “she doesn’t have a job, so why does she get maternity leave” crowd.
Netflix and Spotify probably think she has a job.
I can guarantee you no one knows anything about their birth plan. And they don’t know her due date either.
I’m willing to bet that by the time they announce anything, that baby will be at 2-4 weeks old.
And whatever shenanigans their “crisis” managers think up will blow up in their face guaranteed. Because these egotistical idiots will never take any good advice.
I think it would be wise for the palace to start taking that oprah interview as more of a threat. Meghan and particularly harry are now in the position to start counter leaking. And they have a bigger media available to them. If i were william kate charles and Camilla i would tread carefully.
Well now the sussexes know to avoid going to the cottage hospital but these people have most likely planted sources there. They literally have no idea of their plans and I love it. I honestly hope they don’t announce the birth and just randomly show up with a baby girl or they announce at least a month after the birth or even after the christening.
I want the first picture of baby girl Sussex to be of her christening surrounded by her godparents Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian.
Every hospital within a 5 mile radius is being stalked and they are practically attempting to bribe maternity ward employees as we speak.
I wouldn’t blame Meghan if she did decide to go for a home birth. They probably could set up a whole surgical suite on their estate if they wanted to.
They should just hang out in N.California around the time of the due date and have the baby at Stanford Medical Center or UCSF, and have no one be the wiser. There is an actual midwifery/ birthing center in Santa Barbara that supports home births so it’s definitely a possibility, and good for her if she can actually do it. We’re still in a pandemic and no one is allowed in the hospital unless they really have to be there, especially maternity wards, so she’ll have privacy. I had to have surgery after Christmas holidays, my spouse had to drop me off at the curb, the hospital was empty and quiet, and only staff was there. It wasn’t like an episode of Grey’s Anatomy.
Que all the bitches talking about how home birth is child abuse and baby neglect!
My narcissist, borderline mother had to tell me every single time she heard of anyone having a home birth that if anything happened to the baby then mother deserved it for deciding on home birth. Evil comments! But many of her miserable friends agreed with her. This kind of decision (also bed sharing, openly breastfeeding, other very natural mama decisions) really seem to trigger some people with narcissistic disorders. Meghan knows what it’s like already, she drew an unlucky hand with the amount of narcissists in her life. So hopefully she doesn’t take any of those kinds of comments seriously when she hears them. I’m sure she’s making safe decisions for herself and her baby.
I wish her a beautiful, healthy, happy birth experience and freedom from the crazy family forever.
As long as she has a medical team and real care, most don’t see an issue. The problem most of us have with home births is that a lot of the midwives aren’t trained and the moms are not heeding medical advice.
But yeah I think the crisis is going to be that the Windsors don’t have any real initiatives and M&H will probably do a huge charity thing to raise awareness and support for moms.
Yeah. Home births in the U.S. are different from home births in England. They’re far more dangerous here given the shoddy state of maternal healthcare in the U.S. They’re fairly commonplace and safer there.
I thought the queen had home births. Wouldn’t Meghan be following her majesty’s values if she does the same?
The Queen didn’t have to deal with the for-profit medical industrial complex and insurance co-pays we have to deal with over here.
My son would have died if he had been a home birth. I just feel terror when I hear people have them.
They scare me when women try to have them for their first baby, but subsequent babies not so much. A lot of women who try to have their first just in a birthing center end up going to the hospital for an epidural when things get really bad. Things seem to go wrong more often with the first one as well. Until you’ve done it once you really don’t have a clue what it’s like nor do you know if you’re going to be prone to problems that will require a C-section.
Agreed. Childbirth is an entirely natural event that is naturally fraught with peril. A healthy, monitored pregnancy and a well-positioned baby don’t prevent an unanticipated emergency from happening in the blink of an eye. I would have to take my shoes off to count the number of labors that I know of that would have had bad outcomes for babies or mothers if extensive medical care wasn’t available within minutes.
‘Royal sources’ so yeah, still obsessed I see.
Page Six is literally just the US version of the British right-wing tabloids. They have literally NO sources who know anything about these two. They’re simply using the same stories from her first pregnancy. No doubt they’ll start some “gender fluid vegan chakra wokeness” stories in short order.
+1
“Royal sources” have absolutely no access to meghan and harry and have no idea what they will do this time around. Lol. This is some bullshit
@Cecilia
Ha ha – Page Six comedy time. Pure jokes. A huge yes to all you’ve noted.
Maybe she does want a home birth, especially if Archie’s birth was pretty quick and uncomplicated, and she didnt have any meds – a home birth with medical professionals like CNMs could be very appealing to her. But I really doubt Page 6 knows, they’re just making the same connection I just did.
The birth is going to be interesting bc Americans dont care about our celebrities or our philanthropists like that. I mean, we like hearing when someone had a baby and we like hearing the name and seeing pictures in People mag, lol, but we dont need to know where they gave birth or who the doctor was or to see the birth certificate. The only celebrity birth that stands out to me where I feel like we knew more than normal was Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, because didnt they go to Africa (I think Kenya but could be wrong) to have the baby? So that stood out in my mind. All these other celeb babies – we get the bare minimum of information and we’re okay with that.
My guess is that they will announce the birth through their spokesperson, and then a week or two later we’ll get a picture released through a charity they are involved with.
In the US, we know that we don’t have the right to be up some woman’s uterus when she has a baby.
Which US are you living in Lanne? A woman’s uterus is NEVER off limits!
That being said, @Beck1 you’re absolutely right. We don’t clamor for baby pictures and no one from our side of the pond is going to demand that the princess be shown at once, but if paparazzi were able to get the shot, they would be paid well. It’s weird how that works!
Oh for sure any paparazzi shots of them leaving the hospital or the like would sell really well, so that also makes me think that a home birth is being seriously discussed.
I wasn’t talking about politics, but point taken. The uterus is the Republican’s favorite hangout in the US! They spend more time up women’s uteruses than they do, you know, governing. I meant that the US public doesn’t feel as if we’re entitled to Meghan’s birth plan and to have a camera in the delivery room, which is apparently what they think in the UK.
The Jolie- Pitt twins. It was craziness in the South of France.
okay so I had to google and Shiloh was born in Namibia, the twins were born in France.
those are the only celeb kids though that I know where they were born, lol. I get that it’s a little different for royals, especially the heir, in that that baby will be head of state one day, but beyond that, the obsession is a little intense.
Oh jesus, where have I heard that one before? This is the same bs Murdoch papers peddled in the UK.
Like clockwork, a weird leak about the Sussex camp to attempt to stifle the talk around Prince Andrew. Kaiser, I think you’re right that the BRF truly believes they are handling their current crisis well and don’t need help. But they do feel overwhelmed by the goodwill and good press that will come from around the globe once baby Montecito is born.
I love that “royal sources” say that she’s giving birth in early summer. Meghan said it herself during the Oprah interview. <>
Well…technically then, it IS right: Meghan IS a royal Duchess…and she DID say that.. so… yes, quoting a “royal source” is quoting Meg! 😄
**Kaiser…I am DYING to hear the Penny Junor rumor about her and Charles!!!!!! Can’t you spill…or give some *good* clues??? We know she has an everlasting lust for him (God knows why!), but what else???? 🙏🏻
😂 Yeah, you’re right OG, Meghan is the “royal source.” Although, the BM only considers her royal when it’s convenient for them, like when they want to bash her for something. Lol
I think it was something about a nocturnal encounter they had way back when???
I think I know what she’s referring to. About something that went down in the 80s. Here is a clip to give you a clue:
https://youtu.be/871xi57T0Bg
I remember back in the eighties, Penny Junor wrote this short story for Cosmo. It was about an English Prince and heir to the throne who comes to America and has a fling here. He goes back to England and the American woman finds out she is pregnant and never tells the prince. They “can never be together!” because she’s a nobody I guess. Meanwhile he marries a tall, blonde woman named “Lady Pamela” or something. Pamela gives birth to a girl but the American woman has a son, the “true heir” unbeknownst to the prince. Its a dumb story and I have no idea why I remember it but every time her name comes up that story comes to mind. I think she has been lusting for Charles for a long time.
@OG I think this rumour was floating around on twitter that Junor once gave 🗣️🦴 to ol’Chuck. That’s why she’s particularly “sympathetic” to him. 🤢
I heard think Bill Clinton Monica Lewinsky scenario
I see they dusted off stories from the last pregnancy. Highly doubt we’ll get any details about the birth and we won’t see baby girl Sussex until she’s been here a few weeks.
Who are these royal sources? Because when Harry and Meghan left they said that no palace or royal sources would be speaking for them.
Consider the source.
The May start date is probably because in the UK a 3-month notice period is the norm. If they were hired around Feb/March, then a May start would make sense.
Someone might lose thier job for leaving out the $$$ of the Sussex Monticito home.
This just seems like Page 6’s attempt at confirming birth plans. If the Sussex spokesperson denied it, paps would start stalking hospitals. If they confirmed it, people would go into a huge tirade about home births.
Baby sussex will not be the first royal baby born in the US. Maude Windsor was born in LA.
So if I didn’t have such an on point bullshit radar I would say that it was a lovely, unbiased article for a change.
But all I can think is so much shade pretending to not be.
It makes me itch
I had a homebirth with an all female team (a midwife and two midwifes in training) and it was awesome! So much powerful female energy and strength. If that’s the route she takes, more power to her. A good midwife knows when it’s time to go to the hospital before anything tragic happens. People love to fear monger women who go against the hospital industrial complex but most home births are safer than hospitals since women aren’t out on a schedule or pushed into unneeded interventions. Meghan should do whatever she feels best doing! I’m sure she has a good team around her.
Agreed! Also a planned homebirth is so much more relaxing than giving birth in an ambulance because it turns out that you *CAN* speak on the phone when in transition.
I live in the US and did the same for all three of my babies’ deliveries and it was wonderful (well, not the pain) and so peaceful afterward. I also had two very experienced, licensed midwives and they were incredible.
For the inevitable shamers, any reputable, licensed midwife won’t take you on as a home birth patient unless you have a very smooth, uneventful, and low-risk pregnancy. I also had to sign legal documents that I would transport to a hospital if the labor did not progress and I had to live within 10 miles of a hospital with a L&D center.
Home birth isn’t for everyone and I certainly don’t judge anyone who chooses to deliver in a hospital or a birthing center. It was just a really good option for me because I had easy pregnancies and wanted to try an unmedicated labor and delivery and get some sleep afterward. And no I did not eat or bury my placentas.
I wouldn’t blame her for wanting a home birth given the stalker issues, but if she does that I am sure she will have a very good team and have the hospital’s phone number on speed-dial in case there are complications. I was never interested in a home birth because I would have been nervous about potential problems, but I can see why other people like doing it that way.
My first thought was, it’s a little paranoid of you to think that Grandpa, and Auntie and Uncle Cambridge need crisis management to handle the goodwill toward the Sussexes after they have their little Princess, but that was just a fleeting thought. My second thought was, yup, you’re probably right.
Ginned up lies to distract from Ghirlandaio Maxwell/ Pedro Andy news from yesterday. Next….
I’d be surprised if she actually has a home birth since this is a rainbow pregnancy and her age but it’s their private medical decision and no ones business. There was a lot more interest in home births due to the pandemic but don’t know if the actual number of home births increased. They are still a very small percentage of births here in US. There was the same pointless speculation about Archie‘s birth and know one knew anything. Anyway, we know it won’t be Lindo Wing, over here your health insurance policy often determines where you give birth and it will cost a lot more than it did in the UK. I’m actually surprised this same nonsense is being brought up again and didn’t think anyone would care until saw this headline.
If this is a hospital birth the administration may have put the staff on notice: blab to TMZ and you’re fired for violating HIPPA . Forget drawing unemployment; you are fired for cause. The tabloids would have to pay a for a staffer to risk that.
I know that Home birth with all female medical team is on brand for Meg but she’s almost 40 and had a miscarriage. I would want to be 100% sure there is no risk and go to The Hospital. But on the other hand they can afford best care possible and it would not be a homebirth with just a midwife and a car waiting outside. Meg can have super relaxing birthing room with mini surgical ward set up in one of the many rooms in their mansion. One thing for sure, she’s not discussing This with any RR.
Considering there are no pictures of the family in SB, I doubt the paparazzi will get anything. Anybody lingering outside their estate and/or the hospital would immediately have police moving them on and tbh Montecito is full of famous people that move around with any photos being taken. Cottage is about 15 minutes from their house and there’s another hospital about 30 minutes in Goleta. Probably do cottage if they need a hospital delivery.
I don’t think this is in any way true. Meghan, more than most people would be very well versed on home birth statistics; especially in terms of birth/healthcare outcomes for people of colour in the United States.
Thank you Ellie for pointing out health disparities for different populations, in particular Black women who have some of the highest maternal death rates in the entire world. Nice to see some intersectionality mentioned in this conversation.
After decimating Meghan’s reputation and character in the UK, the British media and the royal family are now hell-bent in destroying the reputation of Meghan and Harry (but moreso with Meghan) in the US. CNN and Fox News are the go-to guys of these lunatics. I hope CNN recovers its bearings after that Max Foster take-down and inject some sense of fairness in their reporting.