Royal baby watchers have been on constant alert for another Meghan Markle pregnancy ever since the former Suits star and Prince Harry welcomed their first child. Over the last year, there has been endless “is she or isn’t she” discourse from the tabloid media. Gossip Cop looked into every single report, giving us a bigger picture of the truth.
Is Meghan Markle Pregnant?
The rumors of another Markle pregnancy began to spread almost immediately after the Duchess of Sussex had her son, Archie. In October of last year, Woman’s Day claimed Markle was about three months pregnant with her second child, which meant she would likely deliver some time around Archie’s first birthday.
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“Meghan could not stop touching her stomach,” a so-called “onlooker” told the outlet. That dubious witness account, as well as Markle’s recent visit to a Woman’s Wellness clinic, served as the magazine’s only proof of a pregnancy. That wasn’t nearly enough trustworthy information for Gossip Cop to believe, and we correctly determined the rumors were false at that time.
The pregnancy rumors continued to spread, with OK! reporting in December that Markle was four months pregnant with her second child, which the outlet claimed was a girl. The magazine maintained that Markle looked “bumpy” during an appearance at a royal event, with an insider adding that the duchess had a “pregnancy glow” and was “holding her belly” like she had during her first pregnancy.
Despite those vague descriptions, the insider insisted they knew intimate details about Markle’s supposed pregnancy, including the gender of the baby. “She’s about four months pregnant, and it’s a girl!” the source squealed, adding, “The first people who they told were Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla, who were both thrilled. Prince William and Duchess Kate were next, and they were just as happy.” Of course the outlet and its almost certainly made-up source got the story completely wrong. Markle was not pregnant at the time, since she obviously would have had the baby by now.
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Is She Hiding Her Pregnancy From The Royal Family?
As 2020 rolled around, even more rumors about Markle’s second pregnancy came to light. New Idea insisted that Markle was secretly pregnant and planned to shock the royal family with the news. The outlet claimed that Prince Harry and Markle had been “bunkered down” in their home and rarely ventured out in order to keep the news of a new baby strictly under wraps. Markle apparently wanted to let the world know on her own, without following royal protocol that dictated that she and Prince Harry must tell the queen of a pregnancy before telling anyone else.
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A source added that Markle “knows exactly how that will look, having the queen and two future kings finding out about it at the same time as an ordinary person, and that’s exactly how she likes it.” This would be the “ultimate message,” the source continued, to let the royals know the Sussexes were “very much outside of its rules and regulations.” This act of rebellion “is breaking Charles’ heart, in particular,” the insider added out of nowhere.
How could Prince Charles’ heart be breaking if he didn’t know about the alleged pregnancy in the first place? It comes as no surprise that yet another tabloid’s prediction went so far off the mark. There was never any need for the royal family to take offense at a secret pregnancy, since Markle wasn’t pregnant to begin with. Prince Harry and Markle weren’t laying low because they were hiding a pregnancy, they were likely not going out because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, not to mention the drones and swarms of paparazzi that had been plaguing their neighborhood.
In July, Life & Style declared that Meghan Markle was “officially” pregnant. “There are whispers that Meghan is expecting,” a so-called “source” told the tabloid, “and that’s one reason she hasn’t been seen out much lately.” The spread of COVID-19 in California in particular was, of course, not mentioned in the piece as a reason why Markle would eschew going out.
The source added that “privately, she’s said to have told a few close pals” about the alleged pregnancy. That vague phrasing made Gossip Cop suspicious. It’s a common tactic used by tabloids to shield themselves from lawsuits in case the often faulty information they peddle turns out to be false. Markle wasn’t actually pregnant this time, either.
Is Kate Middleton Fighting With A Pregnant Meghan Markle?
Kate Middleton is sometimes thrown into the drama, like when Woman’s Day reported that Meghan Markle was spitefully keeping her royal sister-in-law away from not only Archie, but Markle’s unborn child as well. The cover story came with the blazing headline, “Pregnant Markle’s Revenge!” According to suspect sources who spoke with the publication, “Kate loves children and regardless of the bad blood between her and Meghan, she would forgive it all in a heartbeat if she got to spend more time with darling Archie and this apparent new niece or nephew.”
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Markle, however, had allegedly “explicitly told Harry… that neither Archie nor their next baby will ever see their English relatives again.” The article used online commenters as part of its reasoning for proclaiming that Markle was pregnant. That shaky foundation of misinformation was likely why Gossip Cop just couldn’t bring ourselves to believe this tall tale. There was literally no evidence to support the outlet’s claim that Markle was pregnant, nor was there any proof that Markle banned her now and future children from seeing their royal aunt, or the rest of their royal family for that matter.
Most recently, there was a report from In Touch, which has quite the track record this year when it comes to reporting on royal scandals, that both Markle and Kate Middleton were pregnant at the same time. A so-called “royal source” told the outlet that all of Markle and Prince Harry’s “friends are buzzing about” the possibility of a second pregnancy. A similar rumor was supposedly spreading back in England that Middleton was also expecting.
The outlet made sure to mention that Middleton had “been shunning alcohol and craving spicy foods,” but that wasn’t enough evidence of a pregnancy for Gossip Cop to simply trust the word of some unknown, unverified “royal source.” The argument made by the tabloid wasn’t strong enough to convince us that either Markle or Middleton were truly pregnant, and the lack of announcement from the royal family over a month later confirms that our initial instinct was correct.
Meghan Markle is often marketed by the tabloids as some sort of spiteful, petty monster, especially when it comes to how she treats and is treated by her royal in-laws. Ever since she married into the family, and even before, Markle has been unfairly targeted by mean spirited, blatantly false rumors as well as constant criticism of everything she does. It seems especially unfair considering the clear difference in how Middleton and Markle are portrayed in the media.
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Though Prince Harry and Markle took a step back from their royal duties in order to shield themselves — primarily Markle — from the endless barrage of negative press, it doesn’t seem like the tide has lessened one bit. These sorts of shameless outlets are determined to cast the British royal family into stereotypical roles, with Middleton often featured as the long-suffering peacekeeper and Markle as the upstart, fame-hungry diva.
These rigid roles are nowhere close to how the women are in reality, but tabloids know that portraying Markle as a villain is a surefire way to entice readers to spend their hard earned money. It’s a sham and disappointing, but as long as there’s a profit to be made, tabloids will print whatever they want, despite the fact that real people are being hurt by their vicious lies. Even when it comes to something as personal as a pregnancy, there’s no shame from these publications. No, Meghan Markle is not pregnant right now, so don’t listen to any tabloid that says otherwise until Markle herself says something.