10 hot stories, including inside Meghan and Harry’s very modern plans for parenthood, Sienna gets nostalgic about style, and Adele’s dating dilemma

THERE MAY NOT have been Kay Burley live on air for days, nor crowds lining the streets outside the Lindo wing, and yet, last week anticipation for the arrival of Baby Sussex reached fever pitch. With helicopters swirling around Frogmore Cottage, Prince Harry making a surprise appearance at the London marathon and everyone from Oprah Winfrey to, er, Chris Evans fuelling conspiracy theories that the royal baby might already have arrived, the nation was on tenterhooks. At the time of going to press, Buckingham Palace denied the baby had been born and Prince Harry was scheduled to make an official visit to The Netherlands this week.

But one thing we know for sure: whenever it does arrive, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s firstborn will be the most modern baby the British monarchy has ever produced.

At only seventh in line to the throne, he or she might not constitutionally be the most important, but as the first bi-racial infant to be born to the House of Windsor, this baby is already re-writing royal history – just like its parents.

Harry and Meghan’s decision to keep the first few days of the child’s life private and do away with a post-birth photo call, along with rejecting the Queen’s team of doctors for the birth, is typical of the Sussexes.

Indeed, last week, one of their many A-list pals, Oprah Winfrey, praised Meghan’s novel way of doing things. ‘Oh my God! I’m so proud of her decisions,’ Oprah told Entertainment Tonight. ‘To be able to stand up and say, “This is my baby and my family and now I’m going to do it a different way,” when it’s been done that way for a thousand years? I’m just so proud of her for being able to stand up for what works for her and Harry.’ And it seems doing exactly what works for them is how the couple intend to raise this child.

‘Meghan is certainly speaking up for herself and speaking out, which is pretty unusual for a new royal bride,’ says Ingrid Seward, author of My Husband And I: The Inside Story Of The Royal Marriage. ‘She’s much more Hollywood than she is royal.’

These decisions are likely to be joint ones. Harry once said that if he was lucky enough to have children, he wanted them to have an ‘ordinary’ life. However, as the late Princess of Wales’ private secretary Patrick Jephson points out, this will never be the case. ‘It is understandable that Harry wants his child to have a normal upbringing,’ he tells Grazia. ‘But it’s equally futile to think any royal child can escape public scrutiny, especially given how famous its parents are.’

Given Meghan and Harry’s passionate and outspoken support for the environment, feminism and mental health issues, Baby Sussex will also likely grow up in a considerably more ‘woke’ household.

In the past few weeks there have been rumours that the family may relocate to Africa for a few months to focus on Harry’s environmental work, something that has not been denied by the Palace. The report originally came amid suggestions a move was being discussed in order to distance the Sussexes and the Cambridges, who’ve been dogged by rumours of a rift for months. However, Palace aides claim that tension between the couples has subsided, with Kate and William paying an Easter visit to Harry and Meghan at their new home. What’s more, aides anticipate that the arrival of Baby Sussex – cousin to George, Charlotte and Louis – will help bring the families closer.

Sources say that when it comes to raising their new child, the greatest challenge for the couple will be balancing their public roles with a private family life, all within the glitzy arena of the celebrity court they have created. Oprah, Serena Williams, the Clooneys and the Beckhams are all close

friends and could be anointed godparents.

Indeed, in the past few months, Meghan is said to have been relying heavily on advice from Amal Clooney, who lives nearby in Berkshire, asking for pre-birth tips and advice on how to juggle work and motherhood in the public eye. Friends also say Meghan has, understandably, been quite nervous in the lead-up to her labour.

Oprah – with whom Harry is working on a mental health project for Apple TV – last week revealed she is sending the newborn ‘enough books to last a lifetime’. Meanwhile, David Beckham is rumoured to have advised Harry on a ‘push present’. ‘One of Meghan’s favourite designers is Jessica Mccormack,’ says a source. ‘David recently gave Victoria a personalised jewellery box by her and Meghan loves it, so Harry may well have commissioned something.’

Meghan has already bought herself a quasi-push present – a $7,000 Cartier watch she purchased back in 2015. At the time, the former Suits actor revealed on her now defunct website, The Tig, that she’d gifted herself a Cartier French Tank watch when she discovered Suits had been commissioned for a third season. ‘I had it engraved on the back, “To MM from MM” and I plan to give it to my daughter one day.’

The couple are determined to be as hands-on as possible, but are expected to employ an American nanny for when Meghan returns to work, around October. Harry, meanwhile, is likely to take a ‘flexible’ approach to paternity leave, probably around two weeks. Unusually, Frogmore Cottage has no chefs, valets or other members of household staff. Meghan will rely solely on her mother, Doria Ragland, who is visiting from LA, to help serve up the meals she spent weeks before the birth preparing and freezing.

And while the couple will be embracing modern ways of parenting, sources say they will follow some traditions. The christening, for instance, will likely be at St George’s chapel, Windsor, and the date is likely to have already been set around Prince Charles’s schedule – with hopes it will provide the opportunity for Baby Sussex to be seen alongside the rest of the royal family for the very first time.