Why Wasn't Meghan Markle at Easter Service with the Rest of the Royal Family?

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• Most of the royal family stepped out for Easter church service in Windsor this morning.
• The outing doubled as a family celebration of the Queen's 93rd birthday.
• Meghan Markle (opens in new tab) was absent from the outing, likely because (opens in new tab) she's expected to give birth any day.

Why did Meghan Markle skip Easter service with the rest of the royal family?Did Meghan Markle miss the Queen's birthday because she's in labor?

This morning, most of the royal family stepped out for Easter church service at St. George's Chapel in Windsor for an outing that doubled at Queen Elizabeth's 93rd birthday celebration. Kate Middleton, Prince William, and Prince Harry were all in attendance, as were some of the more extended members of the royal family, like Will and Harry's cousins, Zara Tindall and Princess Beatrice.

Conspicuously absent from the royal affair? Meghan Markle (opens in new tab).

Why did Meghan Markle skip Easter service with the rest of the royal family?

So why did Meghan miss such an important royal outing? The answer is pretty obvious. The Duchess of Sussex, who is expected to give birth to her and Harry's first child (opens in new tab) any day (okay, honestly, any second now) is extremely pregnant and probably not up for making the trek to church.

As the Daily Mail's royal correspondent, Rebecca English, noted on Twitter, her imminent due date made it unlikely she would attend the service. English tweeted (opens in new tab) of the odds of Meghan stepping out for the service, "No, I don’t believe she will be there. That’s certainly not what was being said this week — she is days away from having her baby, after all."

Did Meghan Markle miss the Queen's birthday because she's in labor?

Probably not, since Prince Harry was in attendance and would probably want to be by his wife's side if she were actively in labor. And, while members of the royal family are known to throw red herrings out to the press to maintain their privacy when it comes to really personal life matters, this honestly doesn't look like the face of a first-time dad whose wife is off dealing with the early stages of labor without him:

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