Buckingham Palace sent Royal Baby watchers into a frenzy with its May Day announcement that Prince Harry is making a little trip to the Netherlands.
Harry will be visiting Holland on Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 May, said the Palace, starting with an official engagement in Amsterdam before hopping to The Hague to launch the one year countdown to the 2020 Invictus Games.
But with Baby Sussex due to make an appearance any day now, speculation has soared as to why next week – of all times – mother-to-be Meghan Markle would send her husband hundreds of miles away on a trip abroad.
Some have suggested she may have already had the baby, and is planning to hunker down with it for some special bonding time – rumours fed by reports that the Queen visiting the couple at home last weekend.
Virgin Radio breakfast host Chris Evans added fuel to the fire, claiming: “I think I know something ... there might be a new royal baby already,” he said on air.
Well – if Meghan, 37, has given birth already and is sending her husband away, then I understand her reasons for doing so all too well.
When I had my first child, seven years ago, I had no idea how it – or I – would feel. So, I cheerfully invited my in-laws, along with great-grandma and great-aunt, to visit for a full-on ‘family day’ alongside my parents, siblings and two great-uncles, five days after giving birth. I know.
I also welcomed friends round to the house, who came to visit in groups of two or three. We had morning visitors, lunchtime visitors and afternoon visitors, every day, for the entirety of my poor husband’s two-week paternity leave.
I’d had a baby and I thought that’s what you did. Afterwards, I wished I hadn’t.
I was exhausted and overwhelmed, and suffering the physical and emotional after effects of birth and breastfeeding for the first time. You don’t usually get your boobs out in front of your dad, father-in-law, work colleagues and pals, but there I was – struggling to get my daughter to latch on in full view of whoever was visiting at the time when what I really needed was privacy.
And so, second time around, I got wise.
For the whole week after my son was born, I didn’t leave the house. My parents came to visit, and so did my mother-in-law, but that was it. I put a near-total ban on anyone interrupting my precious ‘baby bonding’.
At this point, the grandparents were useful – to look after my (then) four-year-old. She needed attention too, especially with a tiny new person in the house. We were determined not to make her feel left out or ‘replaced’, and the grandparents were a lifeline.
But as for everyone else? No, thank you. I wanted time alone to rest and recover, to lay on the sofa watching all seven series of Gilmore Girls and drinking endless cups of tea. And I actually felt more rested – a completely different experience to my first child.
So, if Meghan has had the baby already, and Prince Harry is going away to give her a bit of peace and quiet, then all power to her. I struggled, and I didn’t even have the world’s paparazzi at my door waiting for a glimpse of my deflating baby bump or squawking regal newborn.
The best thing we can do for Meghan to wish her a happy, healthy start as a new mum? Give her the same kind of privacy I had. Because she’ll need it.