There's been a lot of talk about the newest royal baby's exact due date, gender, and birth
plan, but Meghan and Harry are staying mum.
Of course, that's not exactly going to stop the gossip from spreading.
Here are some of the absolute weirdest rumors we've heard surrounding Meghan Markle and
her pregnancy.
Kensington Palace revealed Meghan's pregnancy in October 2018.
Although that was the first official report, it wasn't the first time we'd heard Meghan
was expecting.
A year earlier, Ok!
Magazine cited supposed "Palace insiders" who claimed she was already as far as three
months along.
The publication also ran a, quote, "pregnant" photo of Meghan on the cover, which might
have been enough to fool readers into thinking the news was true.
Of course, we later found out this the rumor was all kinds of false.
Prince Harry married Meghan the following May in front of the whole world, and there
was no baby bump or postpartum bump in sight.
The baby gossip certainly didn't end there, though.
After the couple got hitched, many people kept an even more watchful eye on Meghan.
From fortune tellers to oddsmakers, nearly everyone was making predictions on when there
would be a royal pregnancy… and that trend has hardly abated as the world waits for the
baby to finally be born.
"So Phoenix is now going to predict the sex of the royal baby."
"Okay, here we go."
"Can we have a little look?"
"Is it going to be…?"
October 2018 was an exciting month for the royal family, and all of us royal stans, too.
Princess Eugenie's wedding to Jack Brooksbank on October 12 temporarily distracted the masses
from all the "is-she-or-isn't-she" pregnancy drama that was swirling around Meghan Markle
at the time.
But just three days later, the official word got out: Harry and Meghan were indeed expecting
a baby.
The focus quickly shifted back to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
According to a rumor, Meghan had announced her pregnancy to the royal family while attending
Eugenie's wedding ceremony.
"But that was a family affair!"
"Yeah I wasn't troubled by it at all, and I can't imagine that Fergie like intentionally
clapped back."
An anonymous source reportedly told Radar Online that Meghan's baby announcement
This source also claimed Eugenie
Meanwhile, some etiquette experts, self-professed and otherwise, felt that announcing a pregnancy
at someone else's wedding was just a tacky thing to do.
"As far as etiquette goes, you just don't take away from someone else's moment.
And I… it's shocking!"
Meanwhile, Harper's Bazaar released a contradictory report that claimed their own anonymous source
said Meghan and Harry broke the news before Eugenie's big day.
The report also points out that Eugenie's wedding was likely the first opportunity many
guests had to congratulate Markle face-to-face.
One of the most pervasive rumors about Meghan's pregnancy claims that there actually is no
pregnancy at all.
As in, her baby bump is fake.
There are a few reasons why some people have theorized that the duchess's bump is not made
of flesh and blood.
One skeptical Twitter user noted:
Another conspiracy theorist pointed to Meghan's, quote, "odd ever-changing 'baby bump'":
According to Express, some people even think Meghan is using a prosthetic bump in order
"... to get attention."
Obviously, this would be an extremely ill-fated plan.
When Harry and Meghan were visiting Morocco in February 2019, a woman had a message for
the mother to be:
"I wish to say congratulations for your pregnancy."
"Thank you."
"What, you're pregnant?"
"Surprise!"
"Is it mine?"
Light-hearted banter, right?
Sure... but not if you're an editor at The Hollywood Gossip.
A hysterical headline published by the website openly wondered:
In reference to Harry's joke, the article asked its readership:
The answer is clearly no, but even though the prince was making a joke, Harry's insinuation
of an affair snowballed into a bigger story.
By March 2019, unsubstantiated reports even claimed that Meghan had devised an entire
backup plan for when, or if, she leaves Harry.
That is certifiably nuts.
In a Vanity Fair article, royal expert Katie Nicholl claimed that the Duke and Duchess
of Sussex were opting for a gender-neutral room for their baby:
Since it's something of a royal family tradition to learn of the baby's sex at birth rather
than during pregnancy, a neutral nursery makes a lot of sense.
But a rumor soon spread claiming there was an entirely different reason for the gender-neutral
nursery.
"Meghan Markle says she and her husband Prince Harry plan to raise their baby in a quote
'gender-fluid way.'"
Vanity Fair quoted an unnamed source that claimed:
This blabbermouth source wasn't quite through, though:
But that's not at all true, according to a Palace spokesman.
In a statement provided to Hello! magazine, the Palace called the report,
It's been long speculated that Meghan is not having one baby, but two.
Midwife Lesley GIlchrist told Cosmopolitan:
However, Gilchrist said it might be that Meghan,
As far back as November 2018, people were fully convinced that Meghan and Harry were
expecting two babies.
At the time, a spokesperson for the online betting company Paddy Power told The Daily
Mail:
In January 2019, the National Enquirer went one step further and claimed that Meghan was
not only pregnant with twins, but also knew the sex of their babies.
According to New Idea, which referenced the tabloid's report, Meghan had recently found
out that she was pregnant with twin girls.
An anonymous insider reportedly told the publication:
In January 2019, royal correspondent Roya Nikkhah reported on Twitter that Meghan had
commented on her pregnancy while visiting local organizations in Birkenhead, England:
Obviously, this would mean Meghan didn't actually find out the sex of her baby, nor her babies.
The royal family has already proven that the rumors about twins are false.
In both the official royal pregnancy announcement and the official statement on the child's
expected arrival, the word "baby" isn't used in the plural form.
In fact, in the latter statement, Buckingham Palace revealed:
And, in the pregnancy announcement, Kensington Palace said that Meghan
A baby.
That's just one baby, folks.
While people seem to be chilling out with all the rumors about twins, there's still
a whole lot of speculation on the baby's sex.
Citing an anonymous source, Us Weekly reported that the duchess revealed the baby's sex at
her baby shower in New York City.
According to this source, Meghan revealed she's having a boy.
This contradicts Meghan's own comments, and royal tradition, about keeping the sex a surprise,
so it's extremely likely that this is hearsay and nothing more.
Are Meghan and Harry planning to raise their baby vegan?
An anonymous Palace source allegedly told Women's Day that those are Meghan's wishes.
But this source allegedly told the publication there was a major problem with this plan:
Clearly the tabloids loved the story.
"Now the Duchess of Sussex could give birth any minute and when the baby finally arrives,
the queen has one request: 'Don't you dare raise that child vegan.'"
The rumor likely stems from an interview Meghan gave back in May 2016 with Best Health, in
which she said:
We don't know for sure that this rumor is false, but it certainly doesn't sound like
Meghan would enforce veganism on her little one, especially since she's not a particularly
strict vegan herself.
Where will Meghan deliver her baby?
It's a question many people are asking.
In April 2019, the Daily Mail claimed it had the answer.
One source allegedly told the publication:
In another Daily Mail article, anonymous sources said Meghan is planning to have a, quote,
"midwife-led birth" at home.
Having a child at home might sound unusual for royalty, but it used to be standard practice.
Princess Anne was actually the first royal woman to give birth in a hospital, according
to Reader's Digest.
Princess Diana's subsequent decision to follow in her footsteps would mark the first time
a royal heir, in this case, William, had been born in a hospital.
Diana is also said to be the first royal woman in modern history to have chosen a drug-free,
natural childbirth.
"The Sun on Sunday today reporting that Meghan and Harry are deciding not to have their baby
at the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital."
Meanwhile, there are plenty of people who think Meghan won't opt for a home birth after
all.
Numerous other reports have speculated that she's going to follow in the footsteps of
Princess Anne, Diana, and Duchess Kate and deliver her baby at St. Mary's hospital.
After all, it's become something of a royal tradition.
According to the Telegraph, a source told the publication that the staff at St. Mary's
Lindo Wing had been,
"... asked not to take holiday in April."
According to this source, the reason for the order has been shrouded in secrecy:
While it's obviously not possible for Meghan to have both a home birth and a hospital delivery,
either birth plan is perfectly feasible.
Nevertheless, it doesn't seem like we're going to find out, at least, not until after Meghan
gives birth.
As Buckingham Palace revealed in their statement in April 2019, Harry and Meghan are keeping,
As soon as Meghan married into the royal family, rumors began swirling that she and her sister-in-law
Kate Middleton were at odds.
But according to royal expert Katie Nicholl, those rumors have absolutely no basis in fact.
She told USA Today:
Although the royal family lets a lot of rumors fly, they spoke up about this one.
When British tabloid The Sun released a salacious report about a fight between Meghan and Kate,
a Palace spokesperson flat-out denied the claims, telling The Mirror:
When people started speculating over who Harry and Meghan would chose to be their child's
godparents, it was revealed that Kate would likely not be picked.
But that isn't because Kate and Meghan are at each other's throats.
As an aunt, Kate will already have a role in baby Sussex's life.
As royal expert Victoria Arbiter explained, the child will likely have godparents who
are outside the immediate family.
In fact, Katie Nicholl had one particularly glamorous morsel to share with Access:
"This child could have the most star-studded godparents in royal history."
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