Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.
"I'm very excited to announce that Meghan and myself had a baby boy this morning, a very healthy baby boy," Harry said in the statement from Windsor cited by ITV. "It's been the most amazing experience I could ever have possibly imagined. How any woman does what they do is beyond comprehension. But we're both absolutely thrilled. We're both absolutely thrilled and so grateful for all the love and support from everybody out there, it's been amazing, so we just wanted to share this with everybody."
Buckingham Palace tweeted confirmation that Markle went into labor early Monday following an announcement of the couple's plans to keep the details surrounding the birth secret until they had time "to celebrate privately as a new family."
While many details surrounding the birth of the latest royal baby haven't been revealed yet - except that he wasn't born in the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital in London, per royal tradition, according to CBS - here's how much the royal baby has cost so far.
Meghan had a baby shower in Manhattan worth $200,000, according to a Vanity Fair estimate.
Serena Williams, a friend of Meghan's, reportedly paid for the party, which included a flower-arranging lesson and dessert tasting with a Michelin-star chef, reported Katie Nicholl for Vanity Fair.
Williams paid $75,000 to host the shower in a penthouse suite at The Mark, a hotel in the Upper East Side.
The suite includes two floors, five bedrooms, four fireplaces, six bathrooms, two powder rooms, and Central Park views, according to Nicholl.
Meghan arrived to the shower in style — she reportedly flew from London to NYC via private jet for an estimated $100,000.
According to Nicholl, one of Meghan's friends owns the jet and covered the cost as a gift.
Meghan and Harry spent an estimated $65,560 (£50,100) renovating the nursery at their Frogmore Cottage home.
They reportedly installed a green energy unit and redesigned the nursery in an eco-friendly fashion with help from interior designer Vicky Charles, reported Jess Lester for The Sun. They used a vegan paint with rosemary oils and eucalyptus.
The couple has also spent an estimated $11,384 (£8,700) on acupuncture and numerology.
Meghan has been regularly receiving acupuncture by a celebrity acupuncturist at an herbal wellness center leading up to the birth, which can cost $8,113 (£6,200) for a year of 45-minute sessions, according to Lester, citing a source — and Harry reportedly joins her.
The couple has also visited Ilapothecary in Notting Hill, London, for numerology, which costs $3,297 (£2,520) for a 12-week program, Lester said.
Meghan has been preparing for the royal baby in style — she's reportedly spent more than $500,000 on maternity outfits so far.
She's spent as much on maternity clothes as she has on her entire pre-maternity wardrobe, which cost $508,000, according to UFO No More, reported Arneson.
Meghan and Harry reportedly took a $43,183 (£33,000) babymoon at Heckfield Place, a five-star luxury spa in Hampshire.
Rooms cost up to $13,086 (£10,000) a night, reported Jess Lester of The Sun, and Meghan and Harry stayed there for three nights. They also had three bodyguards who needed their own rooms.
Heckfield Place serves food from a home farm and features a wellness spa with skincare products that can cost $170 (£130), Lester said.
Meghan's birthing plan hasn't been confirmed, but she could be spending anywhere from $1,700 to $6,500 on it, according to reports.
The Daily Mail reported that Meghan was considering having a home birth with the help of a midwife, although a hospital birth hadn't been ruled out. Some London women are spending $2,618 (£2,000) to $6,546 (£5,000) on an independent midwife during and after labor, according to Jasmine Gardner of the Evening Standard.
Meghan reportedly planned to use the hypnobirthing technique, a form of hypnotherapy that focuses on mindfulness, during labor, according to Lester, who said Meghan hired a doula, which can cost more than for $1,701 (£1,300) for 10 one-hour sessions.
Meghan and Harry will also pay $14 (£11) for a birth certificate — it's a small sum, but the first price hike in birth certificates in nine years.
The General Register Office of England and Wales increased the price of birth certificates from $5.24 (£4) in February 2019. This means Meghan and Harry's baby will cost slightly more than Kate Middleton and Prince William's baby, according to Wendy Michaels of CheatSheet.
Meghan and Harry reportedly want to hire a bilingual manny, or male nanny, which can cost up to $58,552.
Male nannies are a Hollywood trend, reported Vanity Fair's Josh Duboff — Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Biel, Emily Blunt, and Britney Spears all have them.
While there's no word on how much that will cost, Kate and William's supernanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, graduated from the prestigious Norland College, which schools nannies who can earn between $36,493 and $58,552 in London. It's likely that a nanny or manny for the royal family would earn more.
There's also the cost of education, although it's unknown where the new royal baby will attend nursery school.
To put things in perspective, tuition for Princess Charlotte's nursery school is $19,492 and Prince George's attendance through year eight at Thomas's Battersea in London is $240,767. And tuition at Eton College, where Prince Harry attended, is $55,772 a year.
If they're like Kate and Will, Meghan and Harry could spend $200,000 feeding and clothing the new royal baby.
That's how much Kate and Will are estimated to spend per child for two decades — way more than the $46,000 the average London family spends, according to Mark Thompson of CNN.