THE Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William have publicly congratulated Meghan Markle and Prince Harry after it was announced the couple are expecting their first child.
Harry and Meghan — who are currently touring Australia — reportedly told the Queen she would be having her eighth great-grandchild during Princess Eugenie’s wedding at Windsor Castle on Friday.
In a statement, Kensington Palace said: “Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public.”
“The Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, and Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted for the couple.”
The couple’s baby will join cousins Prince George, 5, Princess Charlotte, 3, and Prince Louis, six months.
Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland is believed to be relocating permanently from her home in Los Angeles to London to be closer to her daughter.
Kensington Palace said Ms Ragland was “very happy about this lovely news and looking forward to welcoming her first grandchild.”
It is not known whether Meghan’s father, Thomas, had been personally informed of the news.
Other members of Meghan’s family have yet to comment on the announcement.
In response to the royal baby news, Prime Minister Theresa May said: “My warmest congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the happy news they are expecting a baby in the spring. Wishing them all the best.”
Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to the UK, was among the first to respond to the royal baby, tweeting: “Happy news to wake up to on a Monday morning - congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex!!”
And Grant Harrold, a former butler to Charles, William and Harry, tweeted: “Congratulations to The Duke and Duchess of Sussex who are expecting their first child in the spring.”
The couple’s first child is due to arrive in the British spring, the Palace tweeted, which takes in the months of March, April and May.
The popular pair, who wed at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 19, arrived in Sydney on a Qantas A380 flight via Singapore this morning ahead of the Invictus Games for the start of their first official royal tour.
Their two-week tour of Australia takes in Sydney, Dubbo and Melbourne. They will then head to New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji.
The Duchess of Sussex, who looked radiant as she held hands with her husband, was carrying folders close to her stomach, fuelling speculation that she was pregnant.
From Sydney Airport, Harry and Meghan were taken to Admiralty House at Kirribilli, where they were seen strolling in the grounds and admiring the Harbour view just hours before the announcement was made.
The pair will visit Taronga Zoo tomorrow before catching a ferry to the Opera House to watch a rehearsal by the Bangarra Dance Company. They will then walk along the forecourt to meet members of the public, who will no doubt inundate them with well wishes.
Meghan, 37, has been the subject of persistent pregnancy rumours for the past two weeks, particularly after she wore a loose-fitting Givenchy coat which disguised her famously slim figure to Princess Eugenie’s wedding last Friday.
It now appears the announcement was held until after the wedding so as not to distract from Eugenie’s big day.
If Meghan is at least three months pregnant, as announcements are usually made after the first trimester, then the baby would be expected to arrive in March or early April.
The child will be seventh-in-line to the throne, as Prince Harry, 34, is sixth-in-line.
Royals behind the child in the line of succession will all be bumped down the line, including Prince Andrew and his daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
Royal watchers had always assumed former actress Meghan and Prince Harry would start a family quickly, with the pair already in their 30s.
The pair were married on May 19, with the pregnancy announcement coming just 21 weeks and two days after their nuptials.
By comparison, the announcement of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge’s first pregnancy — their son, Prince George — came 83 weeks and three days after their Westminster Abbey wedding.
The announcement will sprinkle even more fairy dust over the royal family, which is riding high after a year which has seen two royal weddings (Prince Harry’s and Princess Eugenie’s) and two royal babies (to Zara and Mike Tindall and Catherine Middleton, to Prince William).
If past royal pregnancies are any guide, royal enthusiasts across the Commonwealth will start knitting bootees and sending well-wishes to the couple, who live in an apartment in Kensington Palace in London.
News that the popular Duchess was expecting a baby caused an immediate sensation in the United Kingdom, where Theresa May’s Government is hanging by a thread and a proposed Brexit deal to leave the European Union is close to collapse.
Newspapers and TVs went to blanket coverage of the happy news, complete with images of Sydney and Admiralty House on the harbour, in what is guaranteed to provide priceless publicity for Australia and the other Pacific nations in the next two weeks.
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