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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Sarah Young

The moment royal couples introduced their babies, from Princess Diana to Kate Middleton

Photograph: PA

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced that they are expecting their second child.

Since the 1970s, several members of the royal family have given birth at the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital in London.

But for her first child, Meghan Markle chose, instead, to give birth at home in Windsor Castle, following a Buckingham Palace announcement that the couple had planned to keep details surrounding the royal birth private until they had "an opportunity to celebrate privately as a family."

Now that the couple have stepped down from their roles in the royal family and moved to the US, it’s not completely clear where Meghan will give birth.

The royal tradition of posing on the steps outside the exclusive maternity wing began with Princess Anne in 1977, who was shortly followed by Diana, Princess of Wales in 19821 and Kate Middleton in 2013.

The Duke of Cambridge and Kate Middleton have welcomed all three of their children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – into the world at the prestigious location.

For each new arrival, Middleton chose a different Jenny Packham dress – the first was a pale blue polka dot shift dress, followed by white floral number and a red dress that many speculated was an ode to her late mother-in-law.

However, one of the most memorable moments of the Lindo Wing births came from an unlikely source. Following the birth of Prince Louis in 2018, the newborn’s siblings came to visit their mother and, at just two-years-old, Princess Charlotte proved she had already mastered a key element of her regal role – the royal wave – by confidently gesturing to the crowd.

Click through the gallery above to see the first moment the world set eyes on the royal family’s newest members.

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