Meghan Markle Has Given Birth to a Baby Boy

It’s early May, and you know what that means: Meghan Markle’s due date is here. Right on cue, the Duchess of Sussex went into labor Monday morning, according to a statement issued by Buckingham Palace, Prince Harry at her side. Early in the morning, she gave birth to a boy, weighing in at a perfectly respectable seven pounds, three ounces, according to a post to the Sussex Royal Instagram account. (Prince William, meanwhile, might have no idea if he doesn’t have his phone on him.) The baby, Markle and Prince Harry’s first, is seventh in line for the throne, which, as we’ve seen on Game of Thrones, is really no obstacle at all.

During an appearance earlier this year, Markle hinted that she was due in late April or early May, prompting some preemptive hysteria when an ambulance was spotted near the royal couple’s home at Frogmore Cottage late last month. It was a false alarm, one that the ambulance operators quickly dispelled. Then, when Prince Harry shortened an upcoming trip to Amsterdam—a move that was attributed to “logistical planning” challenges—it prompted speculation that Markle was imminently to go into labor. This time, it’s for real!

And, per the Telegraph, Markle is now roughly a week overdue, which might explain why she’s not giving birth at home, as she had hoped: Unnamed sources told the paper that overdue babies necessitate extra monitoring to ensure mother and child are both safe. She was being observed by a women-led medical team that she hand-picked, supported by the Royal Household doctors that the palace keeps on staff. (This was, naturally, treated as a snub when it was announced last month; Meghan Markle can do nothing right, not even when she’s about to spawn royal offspring.)

In its initial announcement Monday morning when Markle went into labor, Buckingham Palace wrote that “an announcement will be made soon.” However, since the Duke and Duchess expressed their desire to keep things to themselves—foregoing the usual Lindo Wing portrait and its accompanying fan frenzy—until they have “had an opportunity to celebrate privately as a new family,” further updates might be slower to emerge from this royal birth.