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Everything to know about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's 2nd baby

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have another baby on the way. What’s the due date? Will it be a boy or a girl? Will this child be in line for the throne? Learn all about baby No. 2.
Image: The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Visit Ireland
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have another baby on the way. Learn all about the Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s second child.Samir Hussein / WireImage
/ Source: TODAY

The party of three will soon be a family of four!

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, are currently awaiting the arrival of their second child — and so are their faithful fans and eager royal watchers.

Will this one be a boy or a girl? A princess? An earl? An American, a Brit or both?

While everyone waits for the new addition to get here, those burning questions don’t have to wait at all. Here’s everything we know so far.

When did Harry and Meghan announce the pregnancy?

Appropriately enough, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed their happy news on a day devoted to love. On Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, a spokesperson for the couple released a statement announcing that baby No. 1, little Archie, would soon have a sibling.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed with this photo released Feb. 14 that they're expecting baby No. 2.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed with this photo released Feb. 14 that they're expecting baby No. 2.Misan Harriman

“We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother,” the statement read. “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are overjoyed to be expecting their second child.”

And it was easy to see their joy thanks to the sweet black-and-white photo that accompanied the announcement, in which Harry beamed at his wife as she laid her head in his lap and mirrored his look of happiness.

Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana, made front-page news on Valentine’s Day in 1984, following the announcement that she was pregnant with her second baby — Harry.

When is the baby due?

Harry, 36, and the former Meghan Markle, 39, announced their baby is due in the summer during their tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this month.

Where will Meghan give birth?

When the duchess gave birth to Archie, she did so at Portland Hospital in central London — breaking with tradition established by both the late Princess Diana and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, who each gave birth to their children at the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital in London. As for Queen Elizabeth II, the monarch and Harry's grandmother, she gave birth to all her children at home.

This time, it’s likely that Meghan will give birth even farther away from those spots. Now that Harry and Meghan call California home, the new bundle of joy will almost certainly be born in the United States.

But wherever they plan to welcome the baby, chances are they won’t share that information with the rest of us until after he or she is here. The couple chose to keep the details of Archie’s birth plan secret until after his arrival.

What is the gender?

Harry and Meghan's second child will be a girl, the couple announced in their interview with Winfrey. The soon-to-be father of two said finding out his child's sex was "amazing" and made him feel "just grateful."

"To have any child, any one or any two, would be amazing, but to have a boy and then a girl, what more can you ask for?" he said. "Now we've got our family. We've got the four of us and our two dogs, and it's great." Meghan added that they plan to be done having kids after their daughter's arrival.

With Archie, the couple decided to keep his sex hush-hush, even to themselves.

When an attendee at the 2019 Endeavour Awards asked the duchess about it, she said, "We don't know. Yes, we decided to keep it a secret.”

What will be the baby's name?

It’s anyone’s guess at this point, and the best guess of all is that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will surprise us, just they did when they introduced Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor to the world.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t good guesses to be had. Since it’s a girl, Diana and Elizabeth seem like obvious options, as does a name like Harriet, which would give Archie’s maybe-sister something that corresponds to his middle name.

Of course, all of those names could be right. Royal babies tend to have quite a few names. Even Harry himself is officially Henry Charles Albert David.

What will be the baby's last name?

This is an easy one: Just like Archie, the new member of the family will be a Mountbatten-Windsor.

As the royal family’s website explains, King George V made a declaration in 1917 stating that all male descendants of Queen Victoria would have the last name Windsor. But in 1960, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip wanted their own descendants to be distinguished from the rest.

So the queen declared that those who do not carry the title of His or Her Royal Highness (HRH), or are female descendants who marry, would have the name Mountbatten-Windsor.

Who are the baby's relatives?

This child will join one big family filled with aunts, uncles, cousins and one incredibly famous great-grandmother — the latter, of course, being the queen. Her husband, Prince Philip, will be the baby’s great-grandfather.

As for grandparents, on Harry's side of the family, there’s Prince Charles, as well as his late mother, Princess Diana. Charles' current wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, will be a step-grandmother. On Meghan's side, Doria Ragland will be grandmother and the duchess's estranged father, Thomas Markle, grandfather.

The duchess is also estranged from her two half-siblings, Samantha Markle and Thomas Markle Jr., who’ll be aunt and uncle to the new arrival respectively. Prince William, Harry's older brother, and his wife, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, will also have those distinctions.

As for cousins, Archie’s little brother or sister will be able to count William and Kate’s three children — Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis — as well as Meghan’s two adult nephews, Tyler and Thomas, among them.

See the family tree below for more on royal relatives.

Where will the baby be christened?

If baby No. 2 follows in Archie’s tiny footsteps, then the queen’s private chapel inside Windsor Castle will be the site of another christening. But a lot of things have changed since Archie’s christening.

PRINCE HARRY CHRISTENING
Prince Harry, at 3 months old, on his christening day with mother Diana, Princess of Wales. PA Images / Getty Images

Since then, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have stepped down from their roles as senior royals and made Southern California their home. That means this christening could take place almost anywhere.

Who will be the godparents?

We don’t know yet, and we may not know for quite a while.

After Archie’s birth, Harry and Meghan broke with royal tradition, deciding to remain mum about his godparents. But eight months later, The Sunday Times published a report claiming they include Tiggy Pettifer, who once served as Harry’s nanny, Harry’s longtime friend Charlie van Straubenzee and Mark Dyer, the former equerry to Harry’s father.

Perhaps those same names will do double duty and play the part of godparents to the next Sussex baby. Then again, with the family based on the other side of the ocean this time, maybe some American names will make the list.

Will the baby have a royal title?

That is very unlikely.

While royal rules dictate that Harry could hand down his dukedom to a son, who would have the title of an earl until then, Archie doesn't have a royal title. Instead, his name is styled as Master Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.

As a result, it’s hard to imagine baby No. 2 having a title, especially since the couple has officially stepped down as working royals.

Where is the baby in the line of succession?

It'll be a long line to the throne for this little one.

Prince Harry is currently sixth in line, behind father Prince Charles, brother Prince William, nephew Prince George, niece Princess Charlotte and nephew Prince Louis. That makes Archie seventh, and his soon-to-be sibling will be eighth.

Will the baby have dual citizenship?

If Meghan gives birth to this baby in the United States, as seems likely, that will mark the first time any of the queen's great-grandchildren have been born outside of Britain. But even then, the boy or girl will still be a Brit, as well as an American.

According to a U.K. government website, “British citizenship is normally automatically passed down one generation to children born outside the UK.”

If Harry and Meghan fly back to Britain for the baby's birth, he or she, like big brother Archie, will also be eligible for U.S. citizenship. The duke and duchess would have to report the birth to the American consulate and submit documents to make it all official.

Where will the baby live?

The family currently resides at the California estate they purchased last year, and that’s where they’ll likely remain after the birth of their next baby. But it's not their only home.

They still have a residence in England, at Windsor's Frogmore Cottage. Although according to recent reports, they're currently loaning the cottage to Harry's cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank.

What number great-grandchild will this be for the queen?

The second baby Sussex will be great-grandchild No. 11 for Queen Elizabeth. Harry's cousins, Princess Eugenie — daughter of the queen's son Prince Andrew — and Zara Tindall — whose mother, Princess Anne, is the only daughter of the queen — also welcomed babies in 2021.

The queen is also great-grandma to Archie, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, as well as Princess Anne's grandchildren, sisters Savannah and Isla Philips and sisters Mia and Lena Tindall.