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Everything we know about reports Meghan Markle won't be giving birth in the Lindo Wing.

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Hours after they give birth, it is a tradition for the women of the royal family to exit onto the steps of the Lindo Wing and pose for photos with their newborn.

Looking windswept and well slept, Kate Middleton and Princess Diana have both presented their babies to the world in immaculate style.

But Meghan Markle is reportedly opting out, breaking a four-decade tradition by shunning the London hospital where many royal babies, including her husband Prince Harry, were born, The Sun newspaper reports.

Meghan and Harry, who married in May last year, are expecting their first child during the European spring.

Princess Diana gave birth to Harry at St Mary’s in 1984 and Kate, the wife of Harry’s elder brother William, gave birth to all three of her children, George, Charlotte and Louis, in the Lindo Wing.

Meghan, 37, has reportedly opted for a maternity hospital closer to their new home in the ancient town of Windsor, The Sun reports.

“The child will not be born at the Lindo,” the newspaper quoted the source as saying.

“She and Harry have decided that rather than go somewhere as public as the Lindo, they will allow Meghan to recover somewhere more private,” the source was quoted as saying.

Kensington Palace could not be immediately reached for comment on the report.

The child will be seventh in line to the British throne, though the birth is undoubtedly set to grab headlines across the globe.

The choice to have her child outside the Lindo Wing is being reported as symptomatic of the Duchess of Sussex’s “feud” with Kate Middleton.

According to a source who spoke to The Sun in January, Meghan is opting to give birth in Frimley Park in Surrey, which is also just a half an hour drive from the couple’s new residence, Frogmore Cottage.

The rumoured hospital is public and does not offer ensuites or champagne like the Lindo Ward of London’s St Mary’s Hospital.

If Meghan were to give birth at Frimley Park Hospital, hers and Harry’s royal baby wouldn’t be the first to be delivered at the hospital.

Queen Elizabeth II’s second son Prince Edward and his wife Sophie Wessex gave birth to their children, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, at Frimley Park. In 2003, the Countess of Wessex was rushed to Frimley Park Hospital where she prematurely gave birth to Louise – a sudden placental abruption called for an emergency caesarean section. She’s since sung the praises of the hospital and its staff.

Wherever Prince Harry and Meghan decide to welcome their baby, the fact they have the option to do it at all is thanks to Princess Diana. If not for Princess Diana insisting on having her first baby in hospital rather than at home, who knows if working royals would still be giving birth in their royal residences?

According to Katie Nicholl’s 2011 book The Making of a Royal Romance, Diana’s decision to give birth to William in a hospital, rather than Buckingham Palace, “wrote royal history”.

While childbirth in the private Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital is commonplace for the British royal family in 2018, previous to Diana it was tradition to give birth within Buckingham Palace.

“Like generations of royals before him, his father Prince Charles had been delivered in the Belgian Suit at Buckingham Palace, but Diana, as the royal family quickly discovered wanted to do things differently,” she wrote.

As long as the birth ends up healthy and happy, it doesn’t matter where it takes place, of course.

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Top Comments

Guest 6 years ago

"Wherever Prince Harry and Meghan decide to welcome their baby, the fact they have the option to do it at all is thanks to Princess Diana. If not for Princess Diana insisting on having her first baby in hospital rather than at home, who knows if working royals would still be giving birth in their royal residences?"

Well, I don't know... maybe you should ask Princess Anne, the hardest working royal of all, who gave birth in the Lindo Wing years before Diana was even pregnant?

Guest 6 years ago

...Not to mention, no Royal can take credit for hospital-based births being a choice for women giving birth today. You're really laying it on thick, trying to attribute everything to bloody Diana.