History of royal baby announcements – from easel to Instagram (and fiasco after Meghan gave birth)

The announcement of a royal birth is steeped in as much tradition and theatre as any of the most glamorous royal occasions.

As soon as the baby is born, a proclamation signed by doctors who delivered the boy or girl is rushed from the ward to Buckingham Palace and stands on an easel in the forecourt for the public to see.

Celebratory gun salutes are also fired for the birth of every prince or princess, no matter where their place is in the line of succession.

But as a new generation of royal babies make their entrance, their parents are opting for a modern approach to the announcement.

Princess Eugenie announced the birth of her new son, Ernest, on Instagram while Mike Tindall chose to share that his youngest son Lucas had been born during a podcast interview, recounting how Zara had given birth on their bathroom floor.

The birth of Princess Anne was announced with a proclamation on the gates of Clarence House where she was born on 15 August 1950 while Buckingham palace was being renovated 

Charles’ birth was born at 9:14pm on 14 November 1948 with a proclamation confirming the news being posted on the railings outside Buckingham Palace

King Charles’ birth on 14 November 1948 was announced in traditional style, despite the heir to the throne being born late in the evening, at 9:14pm.

A handwritten proclamation of Charles’ birth was posted on the railings outside Buckingham Palace, declaring: ‘The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh was safely delivered of a Prince at nine fourteen pm today.’

After his birth at Buckingham Palace, the bells at Westminster Abbey rang out, a 41-gun salute was fired by the King’s Troop Royal Artillery and the fountains of Trafalgar Square were floodlit blue in celebration.

Philip, like most husbands of his era, was not at his wife’s bedside during the birth and occupied himself by playing squash on the Palace court.

Upon hearing the news of his son’s birth, the duke then ran upstairs into the Buhl Room, which had been converted into an operating theatre, and held his firstborn, still wearing his sporting flannels and open-neck shirt.

Unlike her three brothers, Charles’ younger sister Princess Anne was delivered at Clarence House while Buckingham Palace was being renovated after the war.

Born at 11:50am on 15 August 1950, Anne’s birth was announced with a message posted on the gates of Clarence House, on a board outside the Home Office in Whitehall and at Mansion House in the City.

News was shared that ‘The Queen has had a comfortable night’ after the birth of Prince Edward on 10 March 1964

Prince William was the first heir to the throne to be born in a hospital and a traditional announcement was placed outside Buckingham Palace announcing his birth on 21 June 1982

Elizabeth returned to Buckingham Palace for the births of Prince Andrew on 19 February 1960 and Prince Edward on 10 March 1964, both of which were formally announced with a bulletin outside the Palace.

The Duke reportedly called the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret as well as the Prince of Wales and Princess Anne at their respective schools after the birth of their youngest brother, Edward.

Charles and Princess Diana gave birth to their first son Prince William at the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s hospital on 21 June 1982 – making William the first future monarch to be born in a hospital.

An announcement declaring the prince’s birth was placed on a gold easel outside Buckingham Palace but, after a 16 hour labour, Princess Diana spent the night in hospital and showed William to the public with Charles the following day.

Two years later, Prince Harry’s birth was announced in a similar way to his brother, with Charles declaring after the birth that the arrival was ‘much quicker than last time’.

The birth of William and Kate’s first child, George, was shared with the public in the traditional way – in keeping with his position as a future heir to the throne.

Kate also chose the Lindo Wing to give birth to her children, the same as Princess Diana, and Prince William was by Kate’s side as she delivered George on 22 July 2013.

William would then make his first call to the Queen on an encrypted phone while the public would be informed with a formal notice on a piece of creamy A4 size Buckingham Palace-headed paper framed on an easel.

The announcement of Prince Harry’s birth at the Lindo Wing two years later was very similar to his brother, with a proclamation placed on the gates of Buckingham Palace

Kate and William opted for a traditional announcement of the birth of their son George, future heir to the throne, on 22 July 2013 with a proclamation signed by the medics who attended Kate

A palace spokesman said: ‘We wanted to retain some of the theatre of the notice. 

‘It is quite important to us that this is done properly and with the degree of dignity that the event demands. 

‘This is the birth of a child who will be in line to the throne. It is a rare occasion and it is nice to be able to do it with some historical precedence.’

However, despite plans for a formal announcement, the press were informed by a statement from the Royal household sent out at 8.30pm regarding the birth of the young prince.

The pair forged a modern path with their two younger children, Charlotte and Louis, announcing the births on social media in an era-defining move.

Princess Charlotte’s birth was shared on Twitter on 2 May 2015, later followed up with the traditional easel announcement. 

The announcement of her younger brother Louis’ birth on 23 April 2018 was extended to both a Twitter and an Instagram post which included all the traditional content such as the baby’s weight and that ‘Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well.’

Other young royal parents have followed suit, sharing their baby news in the most fitting way possible for modern society.

Prince Harry revealed that his wife had given birth to a healthy baby boy while speaking at Windsor Castle

Harry and Meghan’s Instagram account posted a picture saying ‘it’s a boy’ less than an hour after the news broke that the duchess had gone into labour

At around 4pm members of staff set up an easel announcing the birth at the gates of Buckingham Palace in London

A Right Royal Timeline: What happened, and when we were told

Sunday night: Meghan and her mother Doria are driven in secrecy to London’s Portland hospital accompanied by royal protection officers

Monday, 5.26am: Meghan gives birth

6.30am: Senior members of the Royal family are informed

1pm to 2pm: Palace aides try to send emails to alert the media that Meghan had ‘gone into labour’ – despite the fact the baby had been born six hours previously. But most outlets do not receive the emails.

1.30pm: Most of the media (and the rest of the world) still know nothing, but a spokesman for the Sussexes calls Sky News to arrange coverage of Harry’s statement.

1.45pm: Sky News exclusively reports Meghan is in labour. Sky was randomly selected as the pool broadcaster and distributed the footage as soon as it went to air, but it was seven minutes before it arrived with the BBC, and too late for ITV to cover in their 1.45pm lunchtime news bulletin.

2.03pm: The Palace’s email statement finally sends to all outlets.

2.15pm: Harry pre-records his charmingly gleeful statement about the couple’s to-die-for son.

2.37pm: The Sussexes’ Instagram account posts a picture saying ‘It’s a Boy’, and the palace issues a press release announcing the birth

2.40pm: Harry’s statement is broadcast

Tuesday, 12.28pm: Palace PR officials issue apology over the day’s timings and announcements. But they still won’t confirm where the baby was born, or explain why the world was told the Duchess was in labour when she’d already given birth.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex swerved traditional channels, opting for a birth shrouded in secrecy before their social media reveal of baby Archie’s birth.

But a series of miscommunications from Harry and Meghan’s PR team meant there was confusion over the announcement of the birth, after emails informing the media reportedly failed to send.

While Meghan gave birth to Archie at 5:26am on 6 May 2019, emails did not reach some media outlets until 2pm.

Kensington Palace blamed ‘technical difficulties on site at Windsor’ for some media outlets receiving statements on time, others late, and some not at all.

The Palace had said it would announce that the Duchess ‘is in labour’, however, the statement eventually put out, over eight hours after the baby had actually been born, was ambiguously worded, reading: ‘The Duchess went into labour in the early hours of this morning.’

They had called Sky News, which had been picked at random to be the ‘pool’ broadcaster which would syndicate its footage to all networks and the channel broke the news to the world at 1:45pm.

Less than an hour later, with journalists and royal watchers’ heads still spinning, Harry and Meghan’s Instagram account posted a picture saying ‘it’s a boy’.

An easel was placed outside Buckingham Palace 12 hours after the birth and without the names of the medics who had attended to the duchess.

Meanwhile, Mike Tindall opted to announce the birth of their youngest child on the podcast The Good, The Bad and the Rugby, revealing his wife Zara had to give birth to their youngest child Lucas on the bathroom floor of their home on the Gatcombe Park estate.

The couple organised childcare for their daughters Mia and Lena after Zara had experienced contractions the night before but they didn’t have time to get to the hospital.

Mike recalled: ‘It was run into the gym, get a mat, get into the bathroom, towels down, brace brace brace!’

It followed his reveal on the same platform to announce that Zara was pregnant with Lucas in 2020.

He was welcomed with cheers from his rugby mates as he told co-hosts Alex Payne and James Haskell: ‘It’s been a good week for me, had a little scan last week – third Tindall on its way.’ 

Mike Tindall announced that his wife Zara was pregnant with their third child, Lucas, on the podcast The Good, The Bad and the Rugby

Princess Eugenie took to Instagram in 2020 to announce that she was expected her first child, posting a photo of a pair of teddy baby slippers

She took the same approach to share that she would be having another baby this year with an adorable Instagram post of her embracing her son August

Princess Eugenie took to Instagram in 2020 to announce that she was expected her first child. 

Posting a photo of a pair of teddy baby slippers, she wrote: ‘Jack and I are so excited for early 2021’.

The daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York opted for a similar Instagram reveal to announce that they were expecting a second baby, sharing an adorable snap of her embracing her son August on a cold, sunny day.

She wrote the caption: ‘We’re so excited to share that there will be a new addition to our family this summer’ and credited the photo to her husband, Jack Brooksbank. 

Princess Eugenie announced the birth of her second baby with husband Jack Brooksbank, named Ernest George Ronnie, on Instagram

A sweet snap showed proud big brother August admiring his baby brother, who was born last Tuesday 

The caption announced that Ernest weighed 7.1lbs and was born on 30th May 2023 – the week before the announcement was made on Instagram

Her mother, Sarah Ferguson, shared her reaction on the same platform, posting a photo of her grandson splashing in puddles and writing: ‘You will be sharing puddles, Augie! Superb news, Granny heaven…. So deeply grateful.’

The Princess again took to Instagram to announce the birth of her son, Ernest George Ronnie Brooksbank, who had in fact been born the week before.

A picture of their second son was accompanied by a sweet snap showing her older son August watching over his little brother asleep in his Moses basket.

The caption read: ‘Jack and I wanted to share the news that we had our little boy, Ernest George Ronnie Brooksbank on 30th May 2023 at 8.49 weighing 7.1lbs.

‘He is named after his great great great Grandfather George, his Grandpa George and my Grandpa Ronald.

‘Augie is loving being a big brother already.’ 

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