MEGHAN Markle and Prince Harry are expecting their second child as the couple made a heartwarming announcement on Valentine’s Day.
The couple shared a black and white picture of themselves under a tree, with Harry resting his hand on Meghan’s head as she cradles her bump.
“We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother,” a spokesperson for the couple said.
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are overjoyed to be expecting their second child.”
The wonderful news comes just months after Meghan revealed her “unbearable grief” after suffering a miscarriage in July.
The Duchess of Sussex, 39, wrote of the moment she knew she was “losing” her second baby in a deeply personal essay for the New York Times.
Harry and Meghan’s new tot will add to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s ever growing family – being the monarch’s tenth great-grandchild.
And he or she will be Prince Charles fifth grandchild, joining Archie and Prince William’s children with George, Charlotte and Louis.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s new baby will be eighth in line to the throne.
Archie was born in 2019, and is due to celebrate his second birthday on May 6.
The couple quit their roles as senior working royals in March 2020 in a quest for personal and financial freedom, and now live in an £11 million house in Montecito in California.
Recalling the devastation of her miscarriage, the Duchess said she had been looking after her son Archie, who would have been about 14-months-old at the time, when she felt a “sharp cramp”.
In the moving piece, she wrote: “After changing his diaper, I felt a sharp cramp. I dropped to the floor with him in my arms, humming a lullaby to keep us both calm, the cheerful tune a stark contrast to my sense that something was not right.
“I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second. Hours later, I lay in a hospital bed, holding my husband’s hand.
“I felt the clamminess of his palm and kissed his knuckles, wet from both our tears.
“Staring at the cold white walls, my eyes glazed over. I tried to imagine how we’d heal.”
Meghan 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”.
The former actress said she wanted to encourage people to ask “are you OK?” this holiday season.
In the touching essay, she added: “Sitting in a hospital bed, watching my husband’s heart break as he tried to hold the shattered pieces of mine, I realized that the only way to begin to heal is to first ask, ‘Are you OK?'”
The duchess referenced the interview she gave in South Africa last year when ITV journalist Tom Bradby asked her the same question.
At the time, she struggled to hold back tears, saying: “Thank you for asking because not many people have asked if I’m OK.”
And in the essay, Meghan spoke of the importance of sharing pain, saying “together we can take the first steps towards healing”.
“Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few,” she said.
“In the pain of our loss, my husband and I discovered that in a room of 100 women, 10 to 20 of them will have suffered from miscarriage.
“Yet despite the staggering commonality of this pain, the conversation remains taboo, riddled with (unwarranted) shame, and perpetuating a cycle of solitary mourning.”
She added: “Some have bravely shared their stories; they have opened the door, knowing that when one person speaks truth, it gives license for all of us to do the same.
“We have learned that when people ask how any of us are doing, and when they really listen to the answer, with an open heart and mind, the load of grief often becomes lighter — for all of us.
“In being invited to share our pain, together we take the first steps toward healing.”
More to follow…
For the latest news on this story keep checking back at Sun Online.
Thesun.co.uk is your go to destination for the best celebrity news, football news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.
Download our fantastic, new and improved free App for the best ever Sun Online experience. For iPhone click here, for Android click here.
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thesun and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSun.
