Category Royal Baby

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are set to take about six weeks off towards the end of the year to spend some valuable “family time” together, a royal source confirmed to PEOPLE.

Royal time off!

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will take about six weeks off towards the end of the year to spend some valuable “family time” together amid their concerns that the intense scrutiny they’ve faced has been tough on the couple.

Meghan and Harry will spend the time between the U.K. and the U.S. with the likelihood that they could celebrate Thanksgiving in America.

“The duke and duchess have a full schedule of engagements and commitments until mid-November, after which they will be taking some much-needed family time,” a royal source has confirmed to PEOPLE.

Suggestions that the couple might make a move to Africa, where they recently embarked on a royal tour, have also been reignited, with Harry saying in a new documentary that Cape Town would be “an amazing place” for the couple and baby Archie to live.

“I don’t know where we could live in Africa at the moment. We’ve just come from Cape Town. That would be an amazing place to be able to base ourselves,” he says in Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, which debuts on ITV in the U.K. on Sunday.

The documentary also highlights some of the difficulties the new parents have faced in the last year.

“Any woman, especially when they’re pregnant, you’re really vulnerable, and so that was made really challenging. And then when you have a newborn, you know. And especially as a woman, it’s a lot,” Meghan says.

“So you add this on top of just trying to be a new mom or trying to be a newlywed. It’s um …yeah. I guess, also thank you for asking because not many people have asked if I’m okay, but it’s a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes.”

Asked by ITV’s Tom Bradby if it “would be fair” to say that she’s “not really okay, as in it’s really been a struggle?” the duchess responds, “Yes.”

Harry also talks about the still raw emotions he feels about the death of his mother Princess Diana 22 years ago and his continuing feeling that press attention led to that .

“I think being part of this family — in this role, in this job — every single time I see a camera, every single time I hear a click, every single time I see a flash, it takes me straight back,” he said. “In that respect, it’s the worst reminder of her life as oppose to the best.”

“Being here now 22 years later trying to finish what she started will be incredibly emotional. But everything that I do reminds me of her,” he continued. “But as I said — with the role, with the job and sort of the pressures that come with that — I get reminded of the bad stuff.”

In a statement released towards the end of their tour of Southern Africa, Harry, 35, said, “Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences – a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son.”

For Harry, Africa is always going to be at the center of his, and Meghan’s, work. He tells the ITV documentary, “The rest of our lives, especially our life’s work, will be predominantly focused on Africa, on conservation . . . . there’s a lot of things to be done. There’s a lot of problems here, but a huge potential for solutions.”

Source: https://people.com

BAZAAR.com can exclusively confirm the Duke and Duchess of Sussex donated in the name of their son to help realize an ambitious project: Building a swimming pool in Guinjata Bay, Mozambique, to teach locals to swim. The resort town is home to one of the most picturesque coastlines in the world, but the area has seen an average of 12 drownings a year that could easily be avoided if local children—many of whom grow up to be fishermen—were taught how to swim and be safe in open waters. At present, 90 percent of the local population is unable to swim.

Adam Knight, a swim coach and partner with marine conservation non-profit Love the Oceans, had been running a JustGiving.com fundraiser for almost a month and was still £4,350 ($5,440) away from their target of £5,000 ($6,250). BAZAAR understands that Duchess Meghan came across the page after browsing their most recent Instagram posts and wanted to help them reach their goal.

Knight tells BAZAAR.com that staff were “blown away” by the donation when it appeared in mid-August, but were unsure of who the mystery donor—simply named “Archie HMW”—was. Some wondered whether it was from the Sussexes after the couple pledged support for the charity on their Instagram account in August. “I said to my colleague, ‘That has to be Harry and Meghan,'” Knight says. “We made some calls and were able to verify that it was from them, which is just incredible. Without that donation and support this would not be happening.”

Knight began working with Love The Oceans in the summer of 2018, and gave swim lessons to a small group of local children during that visit. “It was a little nerve-wracking going out [in the water] with just one other person, but I thought, “We’ve got a whole community of children that don’t know how to swim,” says the trainer of 12 years. “There’s a scuba diving resort with a swimming pool—let’s do something with this, let’s change things.”

During his summer 2019 visit, Knight and Love The Oceans brought together a small team to coach 200 young children how to swim, help 10 teenagers become assistant tutors, and train one new teacher: Mozambique’s first citizen with a Safety Training Award Level 2 qualification. “For our second summer we were able to expand and focus on open water swimming, teaching rescue work, and CPR,” says Knight. “Every Saturday since we left, the group have continued with lessons.”

Thanks to Archie’s donation, next August will see the charity’s efforts go further with the opening of the successfully-funded swimming pool. The venue will provide a safe space to train, and means that local children won’t need to pile on the back of a truck for a 45-minute off-road drive to use a local diving resort’s pool, which is often not available anyway. “Having our own pool means we’ll be able to double the amount of swimming lessons and also help create paying jobs for the teachers we’ve trained,” explains Knight. “Swimming isn’t just a skill that ensures the safety of children and adults in the surrounding areas. It also provides employment opportunities in an area that thrives on marine eco-tourism and scuba diving trips, but has so many living below the poverty line.”

He adds, “Now that we’re able to go ahead with this, we will all be thinking of Archie when we open the pool next August. What started out as a passion project is now transforming a community and beyond.” Knight also hopes to extend the program to the rest of the country. “Initially this was a small project to help one specific village and community, but now we’re able to start thinking about the whole of Mozambique,” he says. “People there encounter water every day—instead of it being something to fear, we want to turn it into something that’s enjoyed and provides for them in even more ways.”

Love the Oceans has been working in Guinjata Bay since 2014 and relies on volunteers to protect and study the diverse marine life in the area, including numerous species of sharks, rays, and humpback whales. As a thank you for their recognition on the @SussexRoyal Instagram account in August, the organization named one of their juvenile whale sharks after Harry and Meghan’s son.

Since the donation, Love The Oceans executive director Andrea Biden and Meghan have continued working together, with the duchess even connecting the organization with the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation. The Monaco royal’s charity runs a successful program teaching children how to swim in communities across South Africa.

“What the Sussexes do is just incredible and I honestly can’t thank them enough,” says Knight, who is currently recruiting a team of instructors to join next August’s trip. “Bringing the next phase of this project to life for us means that we’re one step closer to making this program a sustainable community-led initiative, which was always the aim. As the saying goes, ‘Don’t give a man a fish, give him a fishing rod.'”

Source: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/

Sources tell BAZAAR.com that despite being past her due date, Duchess Meghan is taking pregnancy overtime in stride. “Comfortable and content,” says a friend of the mom-to-be. “She’s got this.”

With mother Doria Ragland and husband Prince Harry by her side, the source adds the three are virtually unaware of the growing media presence in Windsor. “They’re in their own bubble at the moment,” the pal adds. “Meg is with the most important people in her life … she’s calm.”

Earlier today Buckingham Palace confirmed that the Duke of Sussex has postponed his May 8 trip to Amsterdam, cutting his two-day Netherlands visit down to one. He will now fly to The Hague and back on Thursday to launch a one-year countdown to the 2020 Invictus Games.

While suggestions have been made that the date was postponed due to Baby Sussex’s late arrival, palace aides explain the cancellation is simply to prevent “logistical conflicts” for press covering Prince Charles and Camilla’s diplomatic trip to Germany from May 7 to 10. Charles’s four-day visit is not only important to the future monarch but also for Britain’s Foreign Office, as the U.K. works to secure its exit from the European Union. One of the couple’s appointments includes a private meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

There is, of course, a chance that Harry may not travel at all. While he has every intention of flying out to the Netherlands on May 9, a palace source says he would most likely stay in the U.K. if Meghan is in labor or their baby has just arrived. “It’s a unique situation, but he’s doing his best to make it work,” says the source.

Source: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/

The royal couple have officially moved out of their Kensington Palace home and into their new cottage in Windsor, PEOPLE confirms.

Meghan and Harry, who are expecting their first child in a matter of days, are now set up in Windsor Castle’s Frogmore Cottage, close to the house where their evening wedding reception was held and where their engagement photos were taken. Windsor, located about 25 miles west of London, is a “special place” for the couple, their spokesman says — and was, of course, the setting for their wedding last May.

Plans for the move were originally announced in November, just one month after Meghan announced her pregnancy.

Harry and Meghan have lived in Kensington Palace’s Nottingham Cottage since their engagement, but the two-bedroom home was never likely to be a long-term residence — especially once they had children.

With all the pressures that come with bringing a baby into the world, the parents-to-be are resolved to build a sanctuary for their little family. “This is a very happy time for Meghan and Harry,” says a source. “This baby has brought them even closer.”

The cottage was in need of major renovations, as it was initially divided into five units as home to the palace staff. As a new family residence, “it would need considerable, lengthy refurbishment,” a royal source told PEOPLE. Windsor, meanwhile, “has more space for children” and “has a special place in their hearts,” the source added.

Prince William and Kate Middleton have their London home at Kensington Palace — at Apartment 1a, which has around 20 rooms. It had been suggested that Harry and Meghan might have the neighboring Apartment 1, but one of the Queen’s cousins lives there.

It was recently announced that Harry and Meghan have official split royal households from William and Kate. The Sussexes and the Cambridges have broken up their joint “court” at Kensington Palace by creating two separate offices, the palace announced.

“This long-planned move will ensure that permanent support arrangements for The Duke and Duchess’s work are in place as they start their family and move to their official residence at Frogmore Cottage,” a statement from the palace reads.

With William one day set to be the Prince of Wales — and all that entails as heir to his father Prince Charles — Harry and Meghan will want to forge their own path, so it’s a natural time to split up, insiders believe.

Their new home at Windsor Castle’s Frogmore Cottage is rich with history – and a connection to another American who married into the British royal family.

Wallis Simpson – the American-born socialite who wed King Edward VIII, forcing him to give up the throne after less than a year because his family (and parliament) wouldn’t accept Simpson, the woman he loved (who was twice divorced) as Queen – is buried next to her husband near the cottage in the Royal Burial Ground.

Simpson and Edward are buried behind the mausoleum that entombs Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Three of Queen Victoria’s children – Princess Helena, Prince Arthur and Princess Louise – are also interred there, along with many other members of the royal family. In the adjacent Frogmore gardens is the mausoleum of Queen Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent.

Meghan and Harry also have some new royal neighbors: Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip! Nearby Windsor Castle is one of the monarch’s primary residences.

Source: https://people.com/