Leading up to the birth of the new royal baby, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, there was a lot of speculation around where Meghan was going to give birth.

Meghan and Harry were both keen to keep the birth private, so the initial plan was for Meghan to give birth at Frogmore Cottage.

In fact, most people assumed that that was where the baby, presented to the world at a short press conference yesterday, was born.

New info, however, reveals that Meghan actually gave birth in Portland Hospital, reports The Daily Mail.

Instead of cradling his son in their makeshift nursery at Frogmore Cottage, Windsor, that first precious moment was conducted 27 miles away in central London in a delivery suite at the Portland Hospital.

The plush US-owned hospital is where many celebrities choose to give birth, as well as the expat American community in London. It was at the Portland that Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York’s two daughters were born.

The Daily Mail makes it sound like seeing your child for the first time in a hospital is tragic. Millions of women give birth every year in hospitals. Granted they aren’t all as posh as the one in central London, but still.

Privacy had dominated the couple’s thinking in the run-up to the delivery, hoping upon hope that at 37 the Duchess of Sussex would be able to fulfil her dream of giving birth amid the familiar surroundings of home. Ultimately, though, it was their unborn baby’s welfare that prevailed. There was no emergency, no late night high-speed dash to hospital, but a planned admission.

Baby Sussex was not keen to enter the world – he was one week overdue –  and needed a bit of a push (excuse the pun). In an attempt to maintain privacy, Meghan’s admission to the hospital was a covert operation.

As the day of the Duchess’s due date came and went, plans were quietly made for the Portland to be ready. Conversations were held with administrators as well as medical staff while back at Frogmore, Harry, Meghan and the Duchess’s mother Doria Ragland packed bags of toiletries and other essentials…

Late that evening a two-car convoy nosed out of Windsor Great Park, heading for London. Only a handful of people were told, certainly not other members of the Royal Family.

Harry, Meghan and Doria were in one car while a ‘back-up’ vehicle of police bodyguards followed closely behind.

…With an entrance via an underground tunnel, the Portland was ideal. In fact so secret were their plans that they were able to arrive and depart from the hospital without being spotted by onlookers…

To summarise – woman gives birth in a hospital.

Watch the birth announcement here, and read the full account of how the hospital birth is believed to have played out here.

[source:dailymail]