BAD HABITS GO UP IN PUFF OF SMOKE
BECOMING A YOGI
ThANKs to his time in the Army, harry is used to keeping fit, and he’s maintained his ‘six-pack’ (once captured on camera while deployed in Afghanistan) in civilian life.
But as many a parent will profess, the arrival of a new baby can throw the best of intentions into disarray, especially when it comes to diet and exercise. harry and Meghan have set in motion plans to ensure their new arrival has two parents who are in tip-top physical health.
Their new family home just down the hill from Windsor Castle is reportedly being kitted out with a yoga studio.
Meghan has long been known to be a yoga devotee and her mum, Doria, is an instructor, but apparently harry, too, has become a fan. Meghan — who enjoys vinyasa yoga and hot yoga and has been photographed contorting her body into all sorts of ultra-flexible poses — has continued her routine in pregnancy and harry apparently practises with her.
Among the benefits, according to Megan, are increased flexibility and muscle strength, ‘greater happiness, increased mental focus, a greater ability
to relax, decreased anxiety and better sleep’.
Harry is also known to have enjoyed exercise sessions at a trendy £575-a-month Chelsea gym, which offers yoga, weightlifting and boxing, as well as bespoke diet plans.
He continues to wear his £275 titanium Oura ring, a fitness tracker which measures the user’s sleep, activity, resting heart rate and temperature.
BOOZE BAN
MegHan is clearly a very virtuous mummy-to-be, as shown this week when she politely declined the offer of a cup of coffee, cradling her baby bump and saying: ‘I can’t at the moment, sadly, but I can have a mint tea or something.’
Her ability to resist a caffeine kick (expectant mums are advised to keep caffeine consumption down) will doubtless have been aided by the fact that she has a partner who is supporting her.
apparently Harry has put his days of over-indulgence behind him and joined his wife in avoiding booze and caffeine in favour of mineral water.
at a formal event on their royal tour in Fiji, observers noted that at a black-tie dinner both Meghan and Harry participated in the toasts with water — a move that drew praise for ‘supportive husband’ Harry.
He had already given up smoking, after some healthy encouragement from Meghan.
EATING FOR TWO
THere is no doubt husband Harry is svelter than his single predecessor. He lost more than half a stone after meeting Meghan. Once partial to fast food — during the army it was KFC, when ensconced at Kensington Palace he was partial to a burger — there is no sign that new-look Harry is slipping from his cleaner, leaner ways.
‘Surround yourself with people who live a healthy lifestyle — it rubs off,’ Meghan once very presciently said.
Whether the couple have kept to Meghan’s preference of eating vegan food during the week during her pregnancy, is unknown, but she will doubtless have been paying careful attention to what she eats, and if Harry’s new drinking habits are anything to go by, he will have joined her.
Meghan is known to enjoy an acai bowl (acai berries are lauded as a superfood) for breakfast and slices of apple with sea salt and peanut butter for snacks.
The couple enjoy early dinners, which Meghan will appreciate even more as sleep is likely to become a little more fitful as her third trimester progresses, and they have a top-of-the-range juicer to make smoothies.
not all treats have been ditched, however. The couple, who like to dine out at laidback but high-end restaurants such as Bocca di Lupo and the Dean Street Townhouse, are said to be fond of a bowl of twice-cooked chips.
If they are looking to indulge as Meghan’s pregnancy progresses, she has said her ‘ultimate food day’ would include breakfast of blueberry johnnycakes (cornmeal flatbreads) with extra crispy bacon and maple syrup and a supper of rib-eye steak.
SNAPPY DRESSING
aS a fashion-loving mother-tobe, Meghan has clearly been enjoying dressing her bump.
radiant in vibrant purple and red, she brought a dose of eyepopping glamour to a visit to Birkenhead this week.
It’s harder for a man to make a splash, but the style makeover undergone by Harry since he got married looks set to stay.
Once a fan of loose-fitting khakis, sports tops and outdoor wear and never a snappy dresser (he once wore a pair of Dunlop sports socks under a suit for a palace reception), Harry is proving to be a stylish daddy-to-be.
His suits have got sleeker, his thinning hair neater, his beard more prominent (but fashionably trimmed) and he often seems to co-ordinate with his wife.
In Birkenhead this week, he wore his £230 Club Monaco topcoat in grey (just as Meghan doubles up on her faves, he has it in two colours), over a navy sweater and shirt with casual navy trousers and suede shoes.
DOTING DAD-TO-BE
He WaS always the impish prince — the younger brother with a twinkle in his eye. But there has been a change in the demeanour of father-to-be Harry.
ever solicitous, the prince’s protective gestures whenever he is seen out with Meghan have gone into overdrive.
a hand at the small of her back, constantly gazing her way to check that she is OK, his every gesture seems to be about protecting his wife — and their unborn child.
Body language expert Judi James says: ‘Harry’s PM (PreMeghan) body language was very typical of a younger sibling who had never taken on a different role from that of being a son.
‘Harry was always displaying the naughty, mischievous smile from his childhood and using it as a contagious form of rapport-building.’
Then Meghan came along and suddenly Harry started to look slightly nervous in public, while she assumed the more confident persona, rubbing his back and touching his arm in reassurance.
now all that has changed, and a more serious Harry is emerging.
‘The concept of being a father as well as a husband does seem to have changed his body language again,’ says Judi.
‘In the early days, the anxiety rituals increased, suggesting he was feeling under pressure to get things right, but we’re seeing a much more alpha-looking prince emerging, suggesting he has taken it upon himself to take charge and protect Meghan.
‘He has started walking ahead and towing his wife by one protective hand, looking more like a bodyguard than a relaxed partner. Having remained in the adolescent state in body language terms for a long time, Harry seems to be rushing to act like the serious, responsible and protective adult husband and dad.’
FEATHERING THE NEST
WITH intense scrutiny of his new bride, is it any wonder that the biggest step in Harry’s Daddy Detox was leaving London.
While the couple continue to reside (officially, at least) at nottingham Cottage, their London home in the grounds of Kensington Palace, ever since they began their journey towards parenthood, they have drawn comfort from the calm of country life.
They intend to make their home in Windsor, but in the meantime a £2.5 million rented farmhouse, set in four acres of land, in Oxfordshire has become the perfect bolthole for the couple to prepare for what lies ahead.
They have spent a lot of time at the property since discovering Meghan was pregnant, and have even adopted a second dog, in addition to Meghan’s ageing rescue beagle, guy.