Prince William Wasn't Happy with How the Palace Announced that Meghan Markle Was in Labor With Archie

According to royal historian Robert Lacey, Prince William was really upset by the way the palace handled announcing Meghan Markle was in labor.

  • The revelations about the strained relationship between Prince Harry and Prince William just keep coming.
  • According to royal historian and biographer Robert Lacey in his new book Battle of Brothers: William and Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult, William was upset about the way Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, had the Palace handle news about the birth of their son, Archie Harrison.
  • The Palace didn't announce that Meghan had gone into labor until Arhies born and Harry, Meghan, and Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, were already headed home with him.

If you're a fan of royal tea, here's the latest cup: Prince William was not pleased by the way the Palace handled news that Meghan Markle had gone into labor with her son, Archie Harrison, and apparently boycotted meeting his nephew for more than a week as a result.

Yeahhhhh.

The tidbit, like so many others about the strained relationship between William and his younger brother, Prince Harry, comes courtesy of royal historian and biographer Robert Lacey's new book Battle of Brothers: William and Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult.

“On the morning of 6 May [2019], Meghan was duly delivered of her delayed but healthy son, weighing in at 7lbs 3oz," Lacey writes in the book, according to Us Weekly. "Baby Archie had arrived with the dawn at 5.26 a.m., allowing grandmother Doria [Ragland] and the happy couple to return to Windsor with their precious cargo undetected."

Will's issue? The Palace didn't announce that Meghan had even gone into labor until Archie was born and she, Harry, and Doria were all headed home from the hospital.

"Their stratagem was bolstered by Buckingham Palace’s putting out a strangely misleading statement at 2 p.m. that day saying that the Duchess of Sussex was just going into labour —when she had, in fact, been delivered of her new son eight hours earlier," Lacey explains.

The Sussexes' reasons for delaying the news were obvious—they wanted to protect their privacy and make sure they were able to leave the hospital safely. Will, however, "did not think too highly of Harry and Meghan’s 'prima donna' maneuvers to conceal the birth of their son," according to the book.

Maybe the most shocking thing about the story is the way Will reacted. Apparently as a result of his disapproval, Will and Kate waited a "full eight days" to visit Harry and Meghan and meet their newborn nephew.

"By contrast, the Queen, Prince Philip, Charles and Camilla all turned up within hours to coo over the baby," Lacey writes. "And it seemed strange that, when the Cambridges did finally pitch up more than a week later, they didn’t bring along George, Charlotte and Louis to welcome their new cousin."

Yikes x 1000000000.

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Contributing Editor at Marie Claire

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with over 10 years of professional experience covering entertainment of all genres, from new movie and TV releases to nostalgia, and celebrity news. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.