Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Lied to the Press About Archie's Birth to Protect Him from the Paparazzi

• When it came to welcoming their first child, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle weren't afraid to go against royal tradition.
• The couple kept Archie's birth a secret, not even releasing a public announcement that Meghan was in labor until after she and Harry were already safely home with their newborn.
• According to royal historian and biographer Robert Lacey, the couple's decision was related to how Harry's late mother, Princess Diana, died in 1997.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (opens in new tab) have made a point of doing things their own way and that definitely included how they handled the birth of their son, Archie Harrison.

In his new book, Battle of Brothers: William and Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult (opens in new tab), royal historian and biographer Robert Lacey explains that Harry and Meghan were less-than-honest with the press (and, by extension, the masses of royal fans around the world) when it came to announcing Archie's arrival (opens in new tab).

Even though Archie was born at 5:26 in the morning on May 6, 2019, the Palace didn't announce anything about the birth until 2 p.m. that afternoon. What's more, when the Palace did make an announcement (opens in new tab), it was a misleading statement that implied Meghan had just gone into labor, when in reality, she and Harry were already home with Archie by that time.

The decision famously angered Harry's older brother, Prince William (opens in new tab), who had followed the longstanding royal tradition of presenting each of his children to the public within hours of their births (opens in new tab). Harry and Meghan made a conscious choice to buck that tradition though. According to Lacey, their strong demand for privacy had to do with Harry's late mother, Princess Diana.

"Harry and Meghan were resolute that their newborn baby's first sight of the world should not be the same insane and lethal camera-flashing that had attended — had actually brought about — the death of Diana," Lacey writes in the book.

Honestly, as reasons to eschew a longstanding family tradition go, that's definitely a good one.