Prince Harry, Wife Meghan Welcome Baby Boy; Name To Be Announced Soon

Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, welcomed a baby boy on Monday.

Baby Sussex is seventh in line of the throne and Queen Elizabeth II's eighth great-grandchild.

The baby is also half-American and may choose to hold dual nationality, as Meghan, a California native, remains a U.S. citizen while waiting for her British citizenship to be approved.

An announcement from Buckingham Palace said the baby was delivered at 5:26 a.m. and weighed 7 lbs 3 oz.

A name will be announced soon.

The palace said that Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, is "overjoyed by the arrival of her first grandchild" and is with "their royal highnesses at Frogmore Cottage."

Super fans and well-wishers have been camped out in Windsor for days, some dressed in head-to-toe Union Jack paraphernalia.

It wasn't just them. British newspapers launched "live blogs" prior to any whiff of actual news that the baby had been born. Over the weekend, international broadcast crews set up cameras outside of the Windsor Castle, the site of the couple's 20018 nuptials.

View this post on Instagram

We are pleased to announce that Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcomed their firstborn child in the early morning on May 6th, 2019. Their Royal Highnesses' son weighs 7lbs. 3oz. The Duchess and baby are both healthy and well, and the couple thank members of the public for their shared excitement and support during this very special time in their lives. More details will be shared in the forthcoming days.

A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on May 6, 2019 at 6:37am PDT

Last week, Buckingham Palace said that Prince Harry was planning a two-day trip to the Netherlands. On Friday, they said that he was postponing a trip to Amsterdam on Wednesday, but would still attend an Invictus Games event in The Hague on Thursday.

Interpreting what all this meant for the due date was not easy.

Meghan and Harry are departing from recent royal tradition with the birth of their first child.

When Harry's brother, Prince William, and Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, produced their heir and spares - George, Charlotte, Louis - they did so dutifully at the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital in London.

Kate literally gave birth while the press slurped tea and munched buns and did live stand-ups about the comings and goings of the duchess' hair and makeup team.

Then, after just a few hours, Kate with baby appeared - "camera-ready in heels" - to pose for the hundreds of camera crews, who had paid for their spots.

Meghan isn't going to repeat.

Buckingham Palace has said: "The Duke and Duchess look forward to sharing the exciting news with everyone once they have had an opportunity to celebrate privately as a new family."

Prince Harry and Meghan's wedding last year at St George's Chapel in Windsor was a global event. (AFP photo)

Meghan might be thankful she wasn't giving birth in a previous era, when the birthing room for a royal baby was a decidedly more crowded place.

Prior to Prince Charles' birth, royal births were attended by the British Home Secretary. When Queen Elizabeth II was born in 1926, the then Home Secretary Sir William Joynson-Hicks took a break from the political crisis of the day to witness her birth. At the time, she wasn't even expected to become queen.

But the tradition of courtiers and people like the Home Secretary and the Archbishop of Canterbury attending the births of royal babies, has since been scrapped.

Harry and Meghan met in 2016, when she was an actress on the legal drama "Suits," filmed in Toronto, where Markle had been living.

In a BBC interview shortly after their engagement, Harry said that on meeting Meghan, he thought to himself, 'I'm really going to have to up my game here." Their wedding last year at St George's Chapel in Windsor was a global event, with the likes of Oprah Winfrey, George and Amal Clooney and Serena William in attendance.