The countdown is on to the birth of the royal baby after Prince Harry cleared his schedule in anticipation of welcoming his first child with Meghan Markle.
According to Express, the Duke of Sussex has no royal engagements lined up and has an entirely clear schedule until the end of May, with Kensington Palace having “confirmed Prince Harry’s schedule is clear.”
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It had previously been reported that the father-to-be would continue cutting back on official engagements in the weeks leading up to the birth of baby Sussex so that he can adjust to life as a dad once the little prince or princess is born.
The cleared schedule has sparked speculation that Markle, currently well into her third trimester, will be going into labor at any minute now.
“on call in case the royal baby is born and I just woke up from a nightmare that the announcement was made and I totally missed it,” one person wrote online.
“I had a dream the Royal Baby was born,” another added. “only a matter of days now.”
Adding fuel to the speculation is the fact that Queen Elizabeth, who is to be the first notified upon the birth of baby Sussex, her eighth great-grandchild, also has no official engagements scheduled until May 3, when she will be in Windsor to present a service of the Royal Victorian Order at St George’s Chapel.
“If I was a gambler, I would hedge my bets on Meghan aka the Duchess of Sussex giving birth to a baby girl on St George’s day i.e. Tuesday 23 April,” one person suggested. “Given it would be the second #royalbaby to be born on St George’s day, I think Georgina would be apt.”
“I forgot I haven’t tweeted my #royalbaby predictions! I think it’s going to be a girl named Victoria Alexandra born on 4/23,” another agreed with the date.
Unfortunately for fans, the guessing game will likely have to continue, as the parents-to-be have announced their decision to keep their child’s birth private.
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very grateful for the goodwill they have received from people throughout the United Kingdom and around the world as they prepare to welcome their baby,” Kensington Palace announced in a statement. “heir Royal Highnesses have taken a personal decision to keep the plans around the arrival of their baby private. The Duke and Duchess look forward to sharing the exciting news with everyone once they have had an opportunity to celebrate privately as a new family.”
The full of extent of that privacy is not known, though in comparison, details surrounding the births of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s three children were widely known, including location, when Middleton went into labor, and when the child was born.
