Timeline of Meghan Markle's pregnancy announcements and Archie's birth on May 6 2019
Executive summary
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry publicly revealed Meghan’s first pregnancy in October 2018 during the period of Princess Eugenie’s wedding and the couple’s Australia tour, and their son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was born on May 6, 2019 [1] [2]. The Sussexes kept many birth details private, announcing the arrival and the baby’s name days after the delivery rather than staging an immediate hospital photo call [2] [3].
1. First public reveal: October 2018 and the royal wedding moment
The couple’s first pregnancy was made public in October 2018, a time frame tied in reporting both to their travels to Australia and to family moments around Princess Eugenie’s wedding, with accounts saying they disclosed the news to relatives during the wedding festivities before telling the world [4] [1] [5].
2. The months that followed: public appearances and a visible bump
Throughout late 2018 and into early 2019 Meghan continued to perform public duties as a working royal while pregnant, appearing at events such as the Commonwealth Day service and other engagements where her pregnancy became increasingly visible in photographs and media coverage [5] [6].
3. Birth plans and a private delivery on May 6, 2019
The Sussexes chose a comparatively private approach for the birth: Meghan gave birth on Monday, May 6, 2019, at London’s Portland Hospital, but the couple did not stage an immediate hospital steps photo call and instead announced the arrival to the public shortly after and revealed the baby’s name two days later [2] [3].
4. What was shared about the labour and departure from hospital
Post-birth reporting and later accounts describe a labour that involved natural measures such as bouncing on a birthing ball, an eventual epidural, and a quick discharge from hospital—reports say the couple and their newborn left the Portland Hospital within a couple of hours and returned to Frogmore Cottage, reflecting their desire for privacy [7].
5. How the announcement strategy differed from other royal births
The Sussexes’ decision to eschew an immediate public photo op at the hospital marked a departure from the high-visibility royal birth tradition exemplified by other senior royals; instead they deliberately celebrated the birth as a new family privately and then shared curated images and information after that period [2].
6. Thread to later pregnancy communications and family planning
The pattern of controlled, media-managed disclosures continued: when Meghan’s second pregnancy was announced on February 14, 2021, the couple again used a formal statement and photographic release rather than a spontaneous royal pageant, signaling an ongoing preference for staged, private-first announcements in contrast to older royal norms [8] [9].
7. Reporting caveats and sources’ perspectives
Contemporary coverage and later retrospectives—ranging from news outlets to lifestyle magazines and later memoir excerpts—align on the core timeline (announcement in October 2018, birth May 6, 2019) but vary in detail about private family conversations and exact timings of who knew what when; where sources speculate about personal motivations or internal family dynamics, those are noted as reported impressions rather than independently verifiable facts [4] [1] [5].