Every family has its own tradition. For their children's birthdays, KateMiddleton and Prince William have made a habit of unveiling an unpublished photo of their offspring on social media. Although this year, they delayed publication, new portraits did appear on April 23 and May 2 to celebrate Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte's big day. The Waleses' millions of subscribers were delighted to play the resemblance game.
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However, now, on Monday 6 May 2024, it's the Sussexes' time to celebrate a birthday — it's Prince Archie's turn to blow out his fifth birthday candle. Unfortunately, fans of the the Sussexes can't counted on the couple to offer a snapshot of their first-born. Indeed, since his birth, the little boy's face has been shown on very few occasions — Prince Harry not wanting his children to be as exposed as he was at the same age.
Prince Harry on fatherhood
Being a father is the role of a lifetime. Prince Harry's very close friend, Nachos Figueras, decided to talk about the Duke's approach to this new chapter. He explained:
He's doing very well, and I admire the way he's fully embraced fatherhood over the past few years
Figueras confided last month (April 2024) at a polo tournament in Florida filmed by Netflix cameras for the Duke's upcoming project focusing on the sport. Prince Harry's long time friend continued:
Seeing him so involved with his children and happy with his amazing wife is heartwarming.
However, Figueras is not the only one who made confessions about welcoming children. Prince Harry himself did it in his memoir, Spare. In it, the Duke explained that, impatient to welcome his first child, he made a pretty huge blunder on the day of his birth at London's Portland Hospital.
Prince Harry lost his nerves on the day of Prince Archie's birth
In his memoirs, Prince William's little brother recounted the day. At first he explains how he obviously didn't leave Meghan Markle's side for a single second for this very special moment. He continues and praises how his wife seemed particularly calm about the whole thing, bouncing on her yoga ball.
However, Prince Harry was in a completely different state of mind. Though he said he was 'calm too' the Duke admitted in his memoir that he needed to find 'ways of enhancing my calm'. As he reports himself, he settled on two:
One: Nando’s chicken (brought by our bodyguards).
Two: A canister of laughing gas beside Meg’s bed.
The Duke continued his explanation:
I took several slow, penetrating hits.
I took several more hits and now I was bouncing too.
In the book, Prince Harry added that his abuse of the laughing gas was eventually found out by one of the nurses. He explained that when Meghan Markle's contractions started to get more frequent and stronger, a nurse came in and tried to give the woman some of the laughing gas. On that, the Prince stated:
I could see the thought slowly dawning. Gracious, the husband’s had it all. “Sorry,” I said meekly.
Fortunately, Prince Harry came to his senses during the actual birth, which was reportedly very complicated. In Spare, he revealed that Archie's head was caught in the umbilical cord. The Duke wrote:
I said to Meg: 'My love, you need to push.' I didn't tell her why. I didn't tell her about the umbilical cord, I didn't mention the possibility of an emergency C-section. I simply whispered: 'Give it all you've got. And that's what she did,"
In their bubble, the young parents broke another tradition. It was only two days after the birth of their son that they chose to present him to the world. Proof that they were no longer going to let the institution guide their conduct.
In his memoir, Prince Harry also revealed that for his daughter's birth he didn't use any laughing gas. Why? Well simply because 'there was none'.
This article has been translated from Voici
Read more:
⋙ Meghan Markle: Royal experts weigh in and explain her decision to not return to the UK
⋙ Princess Anne's life in images: How she became the 'hardest working royal'
Sources:
The Independent: Prince Harry reveals he used laughing gas during birth of son
Daily Mail: Prince Harry was high on laughing gas and ate Nando's chicken at the birth of his son Archie, he reveals in his new book
