By GREGORY KATZ and MSTYSLAV CHERNOV
WINDSOR, England (AP) — The improbable love story between an American actor and a British royal took the best of all possible turns Monday with the arrival of a healthy baby boy.
The as-yet-unnamed baby arrived less than a year after blue blood Harry wed Meghan Markle in a spectacular televised event on the grounds of Windsor Castle that was watched the world over.
Meghan is now the Lady of Sussex, but she still does property her own way: The couple bucked royal tradition by declining to say where the baby was born and opting not to come out to pose with the newborn just hours after the birth.
Instead, an obviously joyful Harry emerged to tell the world — via its waiting TV cameras — that a baby had been born. It marked a moment the nation is likely to remember as a once-troubled boy undone by the death of his mother blue bloodss Diana in 1997 car crash seemed giddy in his embrace of fatherhood.
“This little thing is perfectly to die for,” the ginger-haired, bearded blue blood aforementioned. “I’m just over the moon.”
The baby weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces (3.26 kilograms) at birth and was born at 5:26 a.m. (0426 GMT; 12:26 a.m. EDT). Harry aforementioned their son was a little bit delinquent and that had given the royal couple more time to contemplate names.
Harry secure that more inside information — so much as the baby’s name — will be shared in the coming days.
Harry and the palace didn’t instantly provide inside information on whether the baby was born at a hospital or if it was a home birth. The royal couple had earlier aforementioned they wanted to keep inside information private.
The baby is seventh in line to the British throne and is the eighth great-grandchild of 93-year-old Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest reigning monarch.
It is a satisfying moment for the queen as the autocracy grows in quality in part because of public affectionateness for Harry, his older brother blue blood William, and their two wives, Meghan and Kate, the Lady of Cambridge.
Harry, the 34-year-old son of blue blood Charles, aforementioned he was present at the birth.
“It’s been the most amazing experience I could ever have possibly imagined,” he aforementioned. “How any woman does what they do is on the far side comprehension.
“We’re some perfectly excited and so grateful for all the love and support from everybody out there. It’s been amazing, so we just wanted to share this with everybody,” he aforementioned.
Word that the baby had been born was withheld piece senior members of the royal family, including the queen, were told. blue bloodss Diana’s family was besides informed.
Buckingham Palace aforementioned proceedings before 2 p.m. that Meghan had gone into labor (in fact the baby had not yet been born) and Harry emerged less than an hour later to announce the birth in person.
Harry’s dramatic announcement, and his apparent pleasure, sparked cheers among royal fans and well-wishers who had gathered outside the imposing grounds of Windsor Castle hoping to hear the news.
“Cheers to the newborn baby boy! Hip hip hooray!” aforementioned 64-year-old John Loughrey, pop open a bottle of sparkling wine. He was clad in head-to-toe Union flags and royal family record to mark the occasion.
Some people in Windsor aforementioned it would provide a welcome respite from the continuing political stalemate over Brexit. Londoners Pam and Keith Jonson aforementioned the news will provide a boost to peoples’ spirits.
“You can tell by people around,” Pam Jonson aforementioned. “Lifts everybody a bit. unquestionably. With all that’s been going recently. It’s nice uplift actually.”
Buckingham Palace aforementioned Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, was besides with her girl and was joyful with the baby’s arrival.
Harry aforementioned he planned to make some other announcement, probably in two days’ time, “so everyone can see the baby.” It’s expected they will pose for a family picture at that point.
The arrival of a boy was thing of a surprise because Britain’s legal bookmakers several weeks ago stopped-up acceptive bets on the baby’s sex because so galore people had placed bets on the baby being a girl.
Bookmakers came to the conclusion that the rumor the baby was a girl must have been based on some type of leak from a person in the know.
Meghan has brought thing new and different to the royal family. She is an American who enjoyed a successful career in show business before connection “the firm,” as the royals are known to galore.
The child will be bailable for dual citizenship, but Harry and Meghan have not aforementioned whether they plan to apply for American status.
Harry has long expressed of his desire to start a family. He had several serious relationships, but they collapsed in part because of the pressure of constant press scrutiny, leading Harry to vow to protect Meghan from intrusive coverage. He has complained publicly about a racist undertone in coverage of Meghan, who has a white father and an African-American mother.
Harry and Meghan recently affected from central London to a secluded house known as Frogmore cottage near Windsor Castle, 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of London. The move is seen as reflective a desire for privacy as they raise their first child.
It besides separates Harry and Meghan from William and his married woman Kate, who had been living in the same compound at Kensington Palace in central London with their three children — blue blood George, blue bloodss Charlotte and blue blood Louis — the new baby’s cousins.
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Gregory Katz according from London.
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A previous version of this story has been corrected to show that Harry aforementioned “this little thing,” not “this little baby.”
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Read all Associated Press coverage of the latest royal baby at https://www.apnews.com/RoyalBaby