Cue Sinatra’s “My Way,” because we have witnessed Meghan Markle’s way when it came to her baby’s birth — and we’re all the better for it.
NYC baby shower on her home soil? Check.
Exactly zero Lindo Wing baby reveals in the immediate hours post-birth? Check.
A delightfully unexpected name (that’s Archie, not Archibald)? Check.
No title? Check.
Two loooong days (or, you know, two weeks, depending who’s counting) before meeting with carefully hand-selected press (take that, racist tabloids)? Check.
Perfectly messy hair, nursing-ready dress, and visible postpartum shape? Check, check, and check.
Baby carried out by Papa, not Mama? Check.
This is Meghan’s world, and we’re here for it. The Duchess of Sussex gave birth to son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor — seventh in line to the throne of England — on May 6, according to royal announcement. But Meghan and Harry took their good ol’ time before strolling down a long hall at Windsor Castle to show off Archie to select media. The duchess walked gingerly — suggesting she was still feeling pain and felt no need to hide it — and her Grace Wales Bonner sleeveless cream-colored dress was far more function than fashion, looking comfortable for a still-tender midsection, with buttons for easy nursing. Nice.
Don’t mistake this stuff as a fluke. There’s a reason Queen Elizabeth II made Markle the Vice President of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust: This American woman pays attention to detail, and particularly any details that have something to say about expectations for women. Like her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana of Wales, and her sister-in-law, Duchess Catherine of Cambridge (that’s still Kate Middleton to us Americans), Markle opted for a fashion choice that highlighted rather than hid her full postpartum body. Long gone are the days of pretending the royal stork delivers the latest prince or princess wrapped in calligraphy banners — a shift we’re glad to see in any high-profile royal birth.
As one Twitter user phrased it:
Much will be continue to be said about the new royal baby & parents, and there's also a good case to be made for not caring, but I will treasure that Meghan Markle's post-delivery belly is not Spanx-ed away in these photos.
— Megan Carolan (@MeganCarolan) May 8, 2019
The best news is that there’s no real news to report, in this case. Trolls, of course, will be trolls. But on May 8, two days after Archie’s birth, his proud parents appeared in public for a few blessedly short minutes, answered a few blessedly short questions, from a blessedly small group of reporters. Then Meghan said with a huge grin that she now has the two “best guys in the world” — before turning with her husband and new son and heading back (slowly, carefully) to their private world. And? She’s already back to work part-time.
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