MEGHAN Markle has given birth to a baby girl called Lilibet “Lili” Diana, it was confirmed today.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had their second child at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital on Friday at 11.40am.
Read our Meghan and Harry live blog for the latest updates
A statement confirmed the baby girl weighed 7lbs 11oz and “both mother and child are health and well and settling in at home”.
The new arrival is the Queen’s 11th great-grandchild, joining big brother Archie and Prince William’s kids George, Charlotte and Louis.
The baby girl is also Prince Charles’ fifth grandchild and makes Archie, who turned two in May, a big brother for the first time.
Harry and Meghan’s only daughter is the eighth-in-line to the throne – and the most senior royal in the current line of succession to be born overseas.
The baby is not entitled, at this stage, to be an HRH nor a princess due to rules set out more than 100 years ago by George V.
She can, however, become a Lady – although Harry and Meghan will likely style their second-born a Miss, as they did with Master Archie, using the surname Mountbatten-Windsor.
The Duke and Duchess have previously made no secret of their desire for a second child but also said two is their limit for environmental reasons.
They excitedly revealed they were having a daughter during their Oprah interview in March, with Harry telling the talk show host the gender.
When Oprah asked Harry how he felt learning he would have a daughter, he gushed: “Amazing. Just grateful.
“To have any child, any one or any two, would have been amazing. But to have a boy and then a girl, what more can you ask for. We’ve got our family—the four of us and our two dogs.”
Oprah added: “Done?” and Meghan responded, “Done. Two is it.”
The announcement came almost a year after Meghan revealed the “unbearable grief” she and Harry had suffered when she had a miscarriage last July.
The Duchess of Sussex said she had decided to speak out about her loss because miscarriage was still a taboo subject which led to a “cycle of solitary mourning”.
And the couple, who currently live with two-year-old son Archie in Santa Barbara, California, later announced on Valentines Day that they were expecting their second child.
They shared a black and white picture of themselves under a tree, with a shoeless Harry resting his hand on Meghan’s head as she cradled her bump.
Delivering the news, the proud parents said: “We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother.”
In a touching nod to Princess Diana, the couple made the announcement exactly 37 years to the day she and Charles confirmed they were expecting Harry.
The Royal Family and the Queen, who lost her husband of almost 75 years in April, were said to be “delighted”.
Harry recently opened up about his upbringing as he described royal life as a mixture of The Truman Show film and being in a zoo.
And he said he moved to the US with Meghan and baby son Archie to escape his “genetic pain”.
Only weeks after telling Oprah Winfrey in a bombshell interview that his dad was “trapped”, Harry again opened up about their father-son relationship.
He said on the “Armchair Expert” podcast: “I verbalise it, which is, ‘Isn’t life about breaking the cycle’?
“There’s no blame, I don’t think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody.
“But certainly when it comes to parenting, if I have experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering perhaps my father or my parents suffered, I’m gonna make sure that I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on, basically.
“There is a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway. As parents we should be doing the most that we can to say, ‘You know what, that happened to me, I’m gonna make sure that’s not going to happen to you’.”
