Meet ARCHIE HARRISON MOUNTBATTEN-WINDSOR
Besotted father and proud mother show their baby to the world in a carefully controlled media event
‘It’s magic, it’s pretty amazing. I have the two best guys in the world so I’m really happy’
‘Thank you everybody for all the well wishes and kindness, it just means so much’
They are, the Duchess of Sussex said, her “two best guys in the world”. As besotted father cradled sleeping son to take their place in the history books yesterday, it was easy to feel the magic she described. Just two days old and oblivious to all the eyes upon him, Archie Harrison Mountbattenwindsor slumbered through his introduction to the world, his delicate nose and eyelashes peeping out above
his shawl. Saying her newborn son was the “dream”, with the “sweetest temperament” and air of calm, the Duchess spoke fondly of the “really special” days since their new arrival on Monday morning.
It could have been a scene anywhere in the world as new parents gaze, enchanted, at their firstborn.
It was only the setting that belied the historical significance, under the imposing rafters of St George’s Hall, Windsor, and shortly before Archie was introduced to the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.
“Parenting is amazing,” the Duke of Sussex said, as his wife looked on serenely. “It’s only been two-and-a-half days, three days, but we’re just so thrilled to have our own little bundle of joy.” Asked how she felt, the Duchess said: “It’s magic, it’s pretty amazing. I have the two best guys in the world so I’m really happy. He has the sweetest temperament, he’s really calm.”
“I don’t know who he gets that from,” the Duke interjected, with a knowing glance. The Duchess added: “He’s just been the dream so it’s been a special couple of days.”
Asked who the baby takes after, the Duchess said: “We’re still trying to figure that out.” Having clearly given the matter some thought, the Duke added: “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? 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 interview, conducted inside Windsor Castle thanks to a forecast of rain, saw the family of three pose for one photographer and three television cameras, and answer a handful of questions from one reporter in a carefully controlled environment.
The photographer was Chris Allerton, who had worked at their Windsor Castle wedding reception and shared approved images on Instagram.
Mercifully Archie slept through his first encounter with the media, lying in his father’s arms. Appearing jovial and relaxed, it was the Duke who – unusually for this modern couple – took the lead, with his wife looking to him for reassurance in these vulnerable days after birth.
Unexpectedly, it was the Duke of Edinburgh who was the first senior member of the Royal family to meet the new family, having bumped into them in the corridors of Windsor Castle as they made their way to the interview. Later that afternoon, the Sussexes had a more formal appointment, introducing their son to the Queen and Duke in the private apartments at Windsor Castle, sharing their chosen name before releasing it to the world.
In that meeting, Doria Ragland, the Duchess’s mother, stood between her daughter and son-in-law in a photograph that for many symbolised the modern face of the Royal Family.
With four generations together, from the 97-year-old Duke to the two-day-old baby, the family were all smiles as the Duchess pulled back the shawl to give the enchanted Queen a better look.
Reflecting the growing brood of children now running around Britain’s royal residences, the young Duke joked Archie was “another” greatgrandchild for the Queen: her eighth.
Invited to pull back the shawl to
show a little more of the baby’s face for the cameras, he mused on the distinctive fuzzy newborn’s features to disclose: “He’s already got a little bit of facial hair as well, wonderful.”
As the short interview wrapped up, the Duchess added: “Thank you everybody for all the well wishes and kindness, it just means so much.”
Turning, she placed her arm protectively between her husband’s shoulders as they walked slowly away, gazing at their son all the while.
The baby was wrapped in a knitted hat and white merino wool shawl by Nottingham company GH Hurt & Son, which had provided baby blankets for the Cambridge children and members of the Royal family dating back 70 years. The Duchess wore a white dress by Grace Wales Bonner, tied above the remains of her baby bump and pleated at the back. The designer is considered a rising star of British fashion and last week won the £200,000 Bfc/vogue Fashion Fund prize. Her identity was shared on British Vogue’s Instagram page minutes after the Duchess made her appearance in a move the fashion industry interpreted as suggesting a close working relationship between the Duchess and Edward Enninful, Vogue’s editor-in-chief.
Formalities over, the Sussexes last night retreated to Frogmore Cottage to resume their private lives.
The Duchess, who gave birth to the overdue 7lb 3oz boy at 5.26am on Monday, is thought to have ended up in the private Portland Hospital in central London.
Today, the Duchess and Archie will remain at home with proud grandmother Doria while the Duke flies to The Hague to launch the one-year countdown to the Invictus Games.