Prince Harry's Surprise Appearance Today Is a Huge Clue to Meghan Markle's Due Date
Kate Middleton is scheduled to attend the annual Anzac Day service today at Westminster Abbey—but it was just announced officially she'll be joined by her brother-in-law, Prince Harry! This sounds like it was a surprise for everyone, including Westminster Abbey. More importantly, it gives insight into when we'll see Baby Sussex.


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- It was originally reported that Prince Harry wouldn't attend today's Anzac Day service with sister-in-law Kate Middleton (opens in new tab), depending on when wife Meghan Markle delivers their first child.
- But, surprise! On Twitter, The Royal Family shared (opens in new tab) that Prince Harry will be there. Royal reporters speculate this means the imminent arrival of Baby Sussex has not yet happened, and won't happen at least for the next couple hours.
- Meghan Markle's mom Doria Ragland arrived in England just a few days ago (opens in new tab), so that's another hint about the timing of the royal baby birth.
Kate Middleton is scheduled to attend the annual Anzac Day service (in remembrance of Australians and New Zealanders who gave their lives in service to their countries) today at Westminster Abbey. But it was just announced officially: She'll be joined by her brother-in-law, Prince Harry! This sounds like it was a surprise for everyone, including Westminster Abbey, which tweeted as early as this morning that only Kate would be there. But, more importantly, it gives insight into my very favorite subject—guessing when we'll get a sneak peak at the marvelous Baby Sussex (likely on Instagram after the fact, but I will take whatever I can get).
Freelance royal journalist, @NettyRoyal (opens in new tab), initially responded to The Royal Family's announcement that Harry would be attending the service after all by saying, "The fact that officially the Duke of Sussex has been announced for Anzac Day last minute today, means that the baby is expected any day now. Otherwise he would have been announced to attend before."
Daily Mail reporter Rebecca English (opens in new tab) got the scoop directly from Harry: "I’ve been told: ‘He is pleased he can attend today’s Service, as planned. With their baby due, his name was not printed in the programme in case he was unable to do so.'"
So, to sum up the speculation—Harry couldn't be announced to attend Anzac Day officially until the day of, because Meghan is potentially very close to delivery, but the fact that he is there today means that Meghan is likely not going to deliver today, or at least in the next couple of hours. There's also a second, less likely scenario, which is that Meghan has already given birth. I find this highly unlikely, and the wording from Rebecca English above does say "with their baby due," so unless that's a calculated misdirect, I don't think it's happened yet.
Here's the tweet from royal reporter @NettyRoyal:
The fact that officially the Duke of Sussex has been announced for Anzac Day last minute today, means that the baby is expected any day now. Otherwise he would have been announced to attend before.April 25, 2019
And from Rebecca English:
I’ve been told: ‘He is pleased he can attend today’s Service, as planned. ‘With their baby due, his name was not printed in the programme in case he was unable to do so.’Suggests no sign of #BabySussex quite yet, then!April 25, 2019
And here's the original tweet from Westminster Abbey that didn't include Harry:
Today’s #ANZACDay service will be attended by HRH The Duke of Gloucester and HRH The Duchess of Cambridge.The Duke of Gloucester is Colonel-in-Chief of the @NZArmy Medical Corps. pic.twitter.com/PEgE1rMoMoApril 25, 2019
So the whole thing sounds like a lovely surprise for everybody.
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Katherine’s a Boston-based contributor at Marie Claire who covers fashion, culture, and lifestyle—from “Clueless” to Everlane to news about Lizzo. She’s been a freelancer for 11 years and has had roles with Cosmopolitan and Bustle, with bylines in Parents, Seventeen, and elsewhere. It’s “I go to dinner,” not “Her huge ego,” but she responds to both.
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