Harry and Meghan love story takes new turn: a baby boy

By GREGORY KATZ and MSTYSLAV CHERNOV

WINDSOR, England (AP) — The improbable love story between an American actress and a British royal took the best of all possible turns Monday with the arrival of a healthy baby boy.

The as-yet-unnamed baby arrived less than a year after Prince Harry wed Meghan Markle in a spectacular televised event on the grounds of Windsor Castle that was watched the world over.

Meghan is now the Duchess of Sussex, but she still does things her own way: The couple bucked royal tradition by declining to say where the baby was born and opting not to come out to pose with the newborn just hours after the birth.

Instead, an obviously overjoyed Harry emerged to tell the world — via its waiting TV cameras — that a baby had been born. It marked a moment the nation is likely to remember as a once-troubled boy undone by the death of his mother Princess Diana in 1997 car crash seemed giddy in his embrace of fatherhood.

“This little thing is absolutely to die for,” the ginger-haired, bearded prince said. “I’m just over the moon.”

The baby weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces (3.26 kilograms) at birth and was born at 5:26 a.m. (0426 GMT; 12:26 a.m. EDT). Harry said their son was a little bit overdue and that had given the royal couple more time to contemplate names.

Harry promised that more details — such as the baby’s name — will be shared in the coming days.

The child will be eligible for dual citizenship, but Harry and Meghan have not said whether they plan to apply for American status.

Harry has long spoken of his desire to start a family. He had several serious relationships, but they collapsed in part because of the pressure of constant press scrutiny, leading Harry to vow to protect Meghan from intrusive reporting. He has complained publicly about a racist undertone in coverage of Meghan, who has a white father and an African-American mother.