Tired but beaming, Meghan and Prince Harry showed the public their baby son’s face for the first time on Wednesday, and also revealed his name- Archie.
The royal couple said their son, seventh in line to the British throne, is named Archibald Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. They have not chosen a grander title for the baby, who is not a prince but could have been named a lord.
The announcement came hours after the proud parents posed for cameras, helping to satisfy a huge global appetite for images and details about their newborn son. Standing in the vast, red-carpeted St. George’s Hall at Windsor Castle, Meghan declared the baby was “a dream” and called motherhood “magic.”
The baby lay silently, swaddled in a white merino wool shawl and wearing a matching knitted cap. Both were made by English firm G.H. Hurt & Son, which has supplied three generations of royal babies with knitwear.
“It’s pretty amazing,” said the 37-year-old American, formerly known as Meghan Markle. “I have the two best guys in the world, so I’m really happy.” She said the baby born Monday at 5-26 a.m. weighing 7 pounds, 3 ounces (3.26 kilograms) had “just been a dream.”
Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, during a photocall with their newborn son, in St. George's Hall at Windsor Castle on May 8, 2019. | Photo Credit: AP
“He has the sweetest temperament. He’s really calm,” she said. Asked who the baby took after, Harry said it was too soon to tell.
“Everyone says that babies change so much over two weeks,” said the 34-year-old prince. “We’re basically monitoring how the changing process happens over this next month really. But his looks are changing every single day, so who knows. “We’re just so thrilled to have our own little bundle of joy,” he added.
The couple left the photo call to introduce the baby to his great-grandparents, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. The infant is the eighth great-grandchild of 93-year-old Elizabeth, Britain’s longest reigning monarch.
Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, is staying with the couple at their Frogmore Cottage home near the queen’s Windsor Castle residence. The baby is the first Anglo-American member of the royal family, and is eligible for U.S. citizenship should his parents want it. He has African-American heritage though his biracial mother.
Family members have welcomed the new arrival with Prince William, Harry’s older brother and a father of three, joking Tuesday that he will be glad “to welcome my own brother into the sleep deprivation society that is parenting!”
“Obviously thrilled, absolutely thrilled, and obviously looking forward to seeing them in the next few days,” William told reporters.
Meghan, the former star of the TV show “Suits,” married Harry, the ex-soldier younger son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, in May 2018. An audience of millions around the world watched the spectacular televised wedding ceremony at Windsor Castle, 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of London.