'The press can't wait forever': Harry and Meghan's battle to keep Archie's birth private recalled in memoir

The Duke of Sussex has recalled the births of his children Archie, three, and Lilibet, one, describing the pressure he and Meghan were under to share the news of their son's arrival with the British press, and friction with Palace communications staff over their refusal to do so.

In his memoir Spare, Harry, 38, spoke of Archie's birth on May 6, 2019 at The Portland Hospital in London. The duchess was 10 days overdue when she was medically induced.

According to Harry, they were back home at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor within two hours of their son being born. Meghan's mother Doria Ragland had flown to the UK to support her daughter as she welcomed her first child.

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He described waiting for Archie's arrival, adding that the communications team at Buckingham Palace "began pressuring" him, asking when the baby would be arriving.

He claimed he was told: "The press can't wait forever, you know."

Having tried "several homeopathic ways to get things moving" before heading to hospital where she was induced, Meghan was "so calm" during the labour and Harry says he was too, but he was also hungry.

He ordered Nando's chicken, which was delivered to him by the couple's bodyguards.

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He then began using the laughing gas beside Meghan's bed, meant to be used by patients in labour to help ease the pain.

"I took several slow, penetrating hits," he wrote.

"Meg, bouncing on a giant purple ball, a proven way of giving Nature a push, laughed and rolled her eyes."

Harry said after "several hits" he was "bouncing too" and when Meghan's contractions intensified, a nurse discovered the duke had used all of the laughing gas.

"Meg laughed, the nurse had a laugh, and quickly changed the canister."

He described Meghan listening to soothing music by Deva Premal, "Sanskrit mantras" and "soulful hymns", however she also needed the assistance of two epidural injections to help cope with the pain.

Archie was delivered with Harry at the head of the bed telling Meghan to "push, my love" and "breathe." Meghan was given a small mirror to watch the birth of their son. When Harry glanced at the reflection he saw their son tangled in his cord, which can prove dangerous.

"I didn't tell her why," he shared.

"I didn't tell her about the cord, didn't tell her about the likelihood of an emergency C-section. I just said: Give me everything you've got. And she did.

"I saw the little face, the tiny neck and chest and arms, wriggling, writhing. Wow, it really all begins with a struggle for freedom."

Harry doesn't remember phoning anyone or texting them to tell them his son had arrived, and "had a tiff with Sara" from the palace communications team, who told him they should have been informed of the labour because "the press must be given the dramatic, suspenseful story they demanded" but he disagreed.

Harry gave a statement to reporters waiting outside the stables in Windsor shortly after, saying the papers were "incensed" the couple had "pulled a fast one on them", which he admitted they had.

He said he found it "astonishing" they expected to be included in the birth, particularly given "how low they'd treated us these last three years."

Harry ended his recollection of Archie's birth by recalling seeing a social media post by BBC radio presenter Danny Baker, a photo of a man and a woman holding hands with a chimpanzee, which read: "Royal baby leaves hospital."

Baker was accused of racism and apologised, but was later forced to resign over the since-deleted post.

Lilibet's birth on June 4, 2021 was less fraught, owing to the couple's relocation to the US and complete control of their narrative.

Instead of Nando's, this time Harry treated himself to burgers and fries from US burger chain In-N-Out, and fajitas from a local Mexican restaurant for Meghan, once again delivered to their hospital room by bodyguards.

"Nothing but joy and love in that room," he described before adding that there was no repeat of his laughing gas incident as there was none provided.

"We knew we were having a daughter," he said.

When it came time to deliver the baby, Harry chose to join the doctor to watch. He experienced a moment of fear when he first saw his daughter being born owing to how blue her skin appeared to be.

Harry described the doctor guiding his hands to birth Lilibet: "I slid my hands under the tiny back and neck. Gently, but firmly, as I'd seen in films, I pulled our precious daughter from that world into this, and cradled her for just a moment, trying to smile at her, to see her, but honestly, I couldn't see anything."

He recalled promising to keep her "safe" before handing her to Meghan. After bringing their daughter home Harry described settling "all the new rhythms of a family of four."

Here, Harry shared an intimate moment with his wife when Meghan told him she'd never been more in love with him than during their daughter's birth.