Meghan Markle Has Given Birth to a Baby Boy | 22 Words

For the old romantics among us, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are the dream couple. From their wonderful meet-cute right through to their breathtaking wedding ceremony, the span of their whole relationship is nothing short of goals. And now their relationship has culminated in a truly beautiful way - through the birth of the couple's first baby.

The adorable couple met in 2016 through mutual friends and married in May 2018, while the whole world watched. And the wedding certainly didn't disappoint with millions of viewers absolutely enthralled by the spectacle. As you may expect, much of the royal pregnancy has been kept under wraps, but through some careful detective work, we've pieced together the timeline which has led to this gorgeous baby's birth.

Want to know how Harry and Meghan got to this point? We've got their full iconic love story right here. All that's left now is to say a huge congratulations to the new parents!

The public have had a long relationship with Prince Harry.

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 Being born into the royal family meant he had the spotlight on him pretty much from his birth, in September 1984.

We've seen Harry go through a lot.

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 His mother, Princess Diana, died tragically in a car accident in 1997, when Harry was just twelve years old.

Growing up in the spotlight can't have been easy.

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 But most agree that Harry has handled it with grace and dignity (a few slight scandals aside). He's known for being a little bit cheeky, but it's clear that he has a heart of gold.

Harry has had a couple of public relationships during his lifetime.

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 But in 2016, he met actress, Meghan Markle, and things seemed to change for him. He was blown away by the US television star.

Markle was best known for her role in Suits.

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 In the US drama, Markle plays a brilliant paralegal named Rachel Zane. Before her high-profile relationship with Harry, this was how the vast majority of the public knew her.

Though some claim that she was always going to be something a little "more" than an actress.

This image of the star in her youth, posing for a tourist snap outside her future home, Buckingham Palace, was shared online when Harry and Meghan got together.

The pair met in 2016.

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 They were set up by mutual friends, who thought that the two might be a good match. They went public with their relationship in 2017, with one of their first appearances at the Toronto Invictus Games.

The public were struck by the couple's natural chemistry.

Whenever they were spotted together, they looked the living image of love's young dream, unable to stop catching each other's eyes and grinning.

And the couple were clearly serious about one another.

They announced their engagement in November 2017 in a video that can only be described as "adorable."

As with royal tradition, the pair wed at Westminster Abbey.

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 The wedding took place on May 19th 2018, and it was one of the most-watched television events of all time.

As you'd expect, it was filled with adorable moments.

One that particularly captured the internet's attention was the moment that Harry lifted Meghan's veil. Many thought that the look between the two was super romantic.

The wedding was the perfect television event.

It combined British royalty with a whole host of American celebrities. At what other event would you find Oprah, Tom Hardy, the Beckhams, and Princess Eugenie?

Twitter had some excellent reactions to the big day.

Many drew attention to the fact that Meghan and Harry were paired up by friends on a blind date. This seems pretty relatable, until you remember that he's a literal prince.

The wedding also touched many hearts.

Even for the royal-sceptics and non-romantics amongst us, it was hard to not be at least a little moved by the love story.

Harry has long been a royal favorite.

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 He seems to have a down-to-earth, self-deprecating sense of humor which has endeared him to the general public.

He's also incredibly cute with kids.

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 Harry has a charmingly childlike side, which is shown here as he jokes with his friend, David Henson's, daughter Emily. Which made the announcement of Meghan's pregnancy all the more exciting!

The pregnancy was announced last October.

And although the due date was carefully kept under wraps, Meghan let slip in January that she was six months pregnant.

People were excited.

Not least because the baby photos of both Harry and Meghan were nothing short of adorable.

Of course, there were some jokes, too.

The joint nationality of Harry and Meghan's baby was the source of much (tongue-in-cheek) speculation about an overarching plan by the royals.

The pair weren't shy about making public appearances.

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 Meghan and Harry were pictured together many times during Meghan's pregnancy, with the mom-to-be always looking amazingly polished and put-together.

But unlike William and Kate, Megan and Harry decided against the post-birth photoshoot that we're used to seeing after the birth of a royal.

In early April, Buckingham Palace released this statement: "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very grateful for the goodwill they have received from people throughout the United Kingdom and around the world as they prepare to welcome their baby. Their Royal Highnesses have taken a personal decision to keep the plans around the arrival of their baby private. The Duke and Duchess look forward to sharing the exciting news with everyone once they have had an opportunity to celebrate privately as a new family."

The formal post-birth photocall has been a tradition for forty years.

And some people weren't happy about the breaking of this tradition.

Did Meghan and Harry infringe on our "royal rights" by not immediately showing us their baby?

The New York Times noted that British tabloid, The Sun, wrote that “Keeping the nation in the dark over details, even after the birth, is a bad look for the royal couple [...] The public has a right to know about the lives of those largely funded by their taxes. You can accept that, or be private citizens. Not both." Yikes.

We think that we can understand their decision.

Kate Middleton was criticized pretty badly for her post-birth photocalls. Actress, Kiera Knightly, in an article called 'The Weaker Sex', published in Feminists Don't Wear Pink (and other lies), wrote that Kate put on "The face the world wants to see". “Hide," she continued, "Hide our pain, our bodies splitting, our breasts leaking, our hormones raging. Look beautiful. Look stylish, don’t show your battleground, Kate…. Don’t show. Don’t tell. Stand there with your girl and be shot by a pack of male photographers."

And Meghan's been criticized by the public much more heavily that Kate ever had been.

So can she really be blamed for taking the moment for herself, and her new family, rather than exposing herself and her baby to the public eye (and criticism) so soon after the birth? We don't think so.

Meghan's mom, Doria Ragland, arrived in the UK on 21st April.

British newspaper, The Sun, quoted a source, saying "Like all mums, Doria wants to be there for her daughter at this seismic event in her life." Too cute!

And on the 26th, we started to get really excited!

An ambulance and helicopter were spotted outside Meghan and Harry's home, Frogmore Cottage in Windsor. It looked like Meghan might have decided to have a home-birth with Harry alongside her.

And now today, May 6th, Meghan has given birth!

Buckingham Palace announced the Duchess of Sussex has given birth to a baby son weighing 7lbs 3oz. The child and the mother are both doing well. That statement added: "The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Lady Jane Fellowes, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Earl Spencer have been informed and are delighted with the news. "The duchess's mother, Doria Ragland, who is overjoyed by the arrival of her first grandchild, is with their Royal Highnesses at Frogmore Cottage."