Cradled in the arms of his doting father, the newest addition to our oldest institution made his public debut at Windsor yesterday beneath the busts and portraits of former monarchs – and was then introduced to the current one.
Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, as the new seventh in line to the throne will be called, snoozed serenely through it all.
But then, as an elated Duchess of Sussex explained: ‘He’s just been the dream.’
Appearing for the first time since giving birth on Monday morning, the duchess could hardly have been happier: ‘It’s magic, it’s pretty amazing. I have the two best guys in the world.’
Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, during a photocall with their newborn son, in St George’s Hall at Windsor Castle
It was all smiles later, too, as the proud parents took their son to meet the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, accompanied by the duchess’s mother, Doria Ragland.
Baby Archie may be the very model of modern royalty, a British-American descended from William the Conqueror and Robert the Bruce on one side and with African/Irish/Hollywood lineage on the other.
He will, for now at least, have no royal title, as the Daily Mail revealed earlier this week. Nor will he be christened with the traditional version of his name. It is to be ‘Archie’, not ‘Archibald’, all the way.
As for Harrison, it was chosen for no other reason than that the couple liked the name and the inference that it suggests a ‘son of Harry’. All very 21st century. Yet Archie’s first official engagement in what could be a lifetime of such occasions could hardly have been more traditional.
Instead of inviting cameras into their home at Frogmore Cottage, the duke and duchess had chosen St George’s Hall to present their first-born to the world.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are joined by her mother, Doria Ragland, as they show their new son, born Monday and named as Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle
Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, as the new seventh in line to the throne will be called, snoozed serenely through it all
The grandest and most spectacular of all Windsor Castle’s state apartments, it is lined with suits of shining armour, a homage to the patron saint of England and the Age of Chivalry.
It is usually packed with tourists, when not hosting state banquets. Yesterday it was empty, save for a tiny media contingent, including one American as well as one British television camera in deference to the duchess’s homeland.
The couple appeared through the door from the Grand Reception Room, the duke carrying Archie and still sporting the same euphoric grin we saw hours after the birth. The duchess, in a white sleeveless summer dress, looked blissfully proud and still a little bowled over by it all.
After posing for the cameras for a few moments, she offered us a few promising first insights.
‘He has the sweetest temperament, he’s really calm,’ she noted.
‘I don’t know who he gets that from,’ joked the duke, gently stroking Archie with his thumb. So who does the baby take after most? ‘We’re still trying to figure that out,’ the duchess replied.
But then, as an elated Duchess of Sussex explained: ‘He’s just been the dream.’
Appearing for the first time since giving birth on Monday morning, the duchess could hardly have been happier: ‘It’s magic, it’s pretty amazing. I have the two best guys in the world.’
The duke had evidently been giving the matter much thought: ‘Everyone says that babies change so much over two weeks; we’re basically monitoring how the changing process happens over this next month really. But his looks are changing every single day, so who knows?’
Unlike some terrified first-time fathers, we were looking at a natural. A Palace insider later confirmed that the duke had already changed several nappies. So how did he find being a parent. ‘It’s great. Parenting is amazing,’ he said, with palpable enthusiasm. ‘It’s only been three days, but we’re just so thrilled to have our own little bundle of joy and be able to spend some precious times with him as he slowly, slowly starts to grow up.’
The one problem with the bundle of joy, at this moment, was all the bundling. With a bonnet pulled down over his tiny head and all the swaddling keeping him snug and warm, there was very little of Archie visible.
Royal aides had made it clear in advance that the couple would not be parading him before the cameras. We all know how carefully these two have guarded every detail of this pregnancy and birth.
However, the world could reasonably expect to see more than a bonnet.
Prince Harry held their son for the photographs, which were taken in St George’s Hall in Windsor
So Alan Jones, the unflappable royal correspondent of the Press Association, delicately asked if the baby might be turned just a little further towards the cameras.
The duke obliged, even dropping in a dig at his own expense: ‘He’s already got a little bit of facial hair as well – wonderful!’ Harry’s beard has been the butt of more than a few family jokes.
The couple were asked about taking Archie to meet the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. As it turned out, the new great-grandfather had already been treated to a sneak preview. ‘We just bumped into the duke as we were walking by which was so nice,’ the duchess explained. ‘So it’ll be a nice moment to introduce the baby to more family – and my Mum’s with us as well.’
‘Another great grandchild,’ Harry sighed with mock weariness.
Archie may indeed be the Queen’s eighth. However, she was clearly as thrilled as everyone else when the Sussexes appeared at her private apartments. Yesterday was the opening day of the Royal Windsor Horse Show, a firm favourite in the Queen’s calendar. Despite heavy rain, she had been down to the Home Park to watch the action but was back well in time to meet Archie – now in his mother’s arms – and Doria.
This was the sort of scene which historians will point to long into the future when they come to chronicle key landmarks in the story of the monarchy. Here we see the longest-reigning monarch in history and an African-American yoga teacher united by a handsome new addition to the same family.
A smiling Meghan gives her newborn son a quick glance before facing media for the first time since she gave birth on Monday
Other members of the family are now expected to form an orderly queue outside Frogmore Cottage, starting with the Cambridges and the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall
Outside, I found the posse of royal-watchers, some of whom had been camped on these streets for days. They were glued to the television in the Esquires coffee shop.
‘Oh, he’s just lovely. He really is,’ said Michelle Lassiter, an accountant from Guildford, Surrey. She had taken several days off work to be in Windsor just to ‘be part of it all with like-minded people’.
Dressed in his union jack suit, Terry Hutt, the 84-year-old doyen of the royal ‘superfans’, admitted he was disappointed not to be able to see the baby’s hair.
All were unhappy not to have set eyes on the baby themselves, as they have done every time the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have brought a new-born out of St Mary’s, Paddington. However, as Caryll Foster, 59, from Surrey, pointed out: ‘St George’s Hall looks a lot more royal than a pavement in Paddington.’
And the one upshot of yesterday’s tightly controlled photo-opportunity is that the world has now seen a good deal more of Archie Mountbatten-Windsor than would have been the case on a hospital doorstep.
Other members of the family are now expected to form an orderly queue outside Frogmore Cottage, starting with the Cambridges and the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.
Today, however, Prince Harry will leave his wife and child for an official visit to Holland. A modern parent he may be, but paternity leave does not trump royal engagements already in the diary.
Clooney: Be kinder to Meghan. Family friend George calls on her critics to ease off
By Vanessa Allen
George Clooney intervened on behalf of the Duchess of Sussex, calling for ‘kinder’ treatment of the new mother
He has been tipped as a possible godfather for the newest member of the Royal Family.
And yesterday George Clooney intervened on behalf of the Duchess of Sussex, calling for ‘kinder’ treatment of the new mother.
The Hollywood star said scrutiny of the former actress had gone ‘into a really dark place’ and urged critics to ease off.
‘She’s a young woman who’s just had a baby,’ he added.
Clooney, 58, said it was inevitable that interest in Harry and Meghan would intensify following the birth of their baby and acknowledged that media coverage was a fact of life for the Royal Family. He has previously claimed the duchess was ‘pursued, vilified and chased’ during her pregnancy, comparing her treatment to that of Princess Diana.
That intervention in February came after friends of the duchess spoke to a US magazine about her troubled relationship with her father Thomas Markle.
Harrison? He’s named after me
The choice of the baby’s second name caused particular excitement in one household yesterday.
Harrison Degiorgio-Lewis has met Prince Harry twice at Westminster Abbey’s Field of Remembrance, which honours our war dead.
Harrison Degiorgio-Lewis (pictured) has met Prince Harry twice at Westminster Abbey’s Field of Remembrance, which honours our war dead
The schoolboy, eight, whose uncle Lieutenant Aaron Lewis, of 29 Commando Royal Artillery was killed in Afghanistan in December 2008, was convinced he had influenced the royal couple’s decision.
‘I meet him [Prince Harry] quite a lot and we share the same birthday,’ said Harrison, of Rochford, Essex.
His father Brett was less sure, however. ‘Obviously it’s lovely of them if they did name their boy after Harrison but, no, I have not heard anything,’ he said. Harry and Harrison share a September 15 birthday. They met in 2016 and the next year.
Clooney was asked about media interest in Meghan during an appearance at the Los Angeles premiere yesterday of his TV adaptation of Catch-22.
‘I think it’ll intensify it, of course,’ he said. ‘But it’s never about the media following you around because if you’re a royal, that’s part of what you have to do.
‘It’s the other versions of it: going to interview people’s parents, that kind of stuff, that it starts to step into a really dark place. It just, sort of, the Press turned on them and I think people should be a little kinder. She’s … just had a baby.’
The star, who has laughed off suggestions he could become a royal godfather, shares a birthday with Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. He joked: ‘I was a little irritated because that kid really is stealing my thunder.’
Clooney and wife Amal were guests at Harry and Meghan’s wedding and hosted them for four days at their Italian retreat on Lake Como. The pair have twins, Ella and Alexander, who are almost two, and live near the Sussexes at Sonning-on-Thames.
One of Meghan’s close friends – US CBS news anchor Gayle King – arrived in Britain yesterday to see the new arrival. The couple had insisted on CBS being at the unveiling of Archie yesterday.
Miss King’s ‘royal special’ is due to be broadcast in the US to coincide with the couple’s first wedding anniversary on May 19.
Meanwhile, Buckingham Palace’s attempts to note the birth on its official website were marred by a howler. Archie was referred to as the child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who are his uncle William and aunt Kate. The page was corrected but only after it had gone live and drawn much mockery.
Long to rain over one!
Either one of her horses was not doing too well, or yesterday’s rain came as a surprise, but the Queen wasn’t going to be distracted by the arrival of another grandchild as she enjoyed the first day of the Windsor Horse Trials.
Gran’s £18,000 from Archie bet
One punter won more than £18,000 after she guessed the newest member of the Royal Family would be called Archie.
Oops! Palace in a muddle
Off message: Buckingham Palace’s website briefly carried this story yesterday, giving the couple the title Cambridge instead of Sussex
The woman staked £120 on the 150/1 bet after Baby Sussex was born on her grandson Archie’s birthday.
More than £1.1million was wagered on names but Archie was a huge outsider compared with Alexander, Spencer, Arthur and James.
The unnamed woman, who scooped £18,120, said: ‘I thought I’d go for a cheeky bet as perhaps my Archie would bring some luck.’
Cousin George: I bagged name first
Harry and Meghan’s choice of name could cause confusion for the baby’s young cousin Prince George.
The five-year-old told a dog walker ‘I’m called Archie’, prompting speculation that Archie could be a family nickname for the third-in-line to the throne.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s son was out with his grandmother Carole Middleton in Berkshire this year when he chatted to a passing dog walker.
The walker said: ‘I asked George what his name was. He said “I’m called Archie” with a big smile on his face.