Harry and Meghan’s baby could be born in luxury LA suites

After abandoning hopes of a home birth to bring baby Archie into the world at a London hospital two years ago, Meghan Markle will have a choice of madcap, megabucks maternity services used by Hollywood A-listers if she welcomes her second child in California later this year. 

Professional photographers, waiters in tuxedos bringing five-star meals and deluxe suites with flat-screen TVs are just some of the premium services offered by LA birthing facilities used by the likes of Kim Kardashian and Victoria Beckham.   

As well as $4,000-a-night rooms for the birth itself, there are $450-per-couple classes in ‘hypnobirthing’, so-called ‘crystal readers’ who claim they can predict a child’s future and companies which offer to turn the placenta into edible capsules for around $300. 

One self-described Natural Birth Center in Los Angeles promises ‘minimal or no interference’ from medical staff, or alternatively to dispatch midwives for a home birth – which Meghan is believed to have wanted in 2019.  

As well as these potential luxuries in the precious first few hours of its life, Meghan and Harry’s new baby will, if it is born in the United States, also be guaranteed American citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment. 

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with their son Archie after his birth at a London hospital in 2019 – with the couple now preparing to welcome a second child after moving to California last year 

A view inside the Cedars-Sinai maternity ward in Los Angeles where celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Victoria Beckham and Gwyneth Paltrow have previously brought children into the world

A view inside the Cedars-Sinai maternity ward in Los Angeles where celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Victoria Beckham and Gwyneth Paltrow have previously brought children into the world 

Maternity ward of the stars: LA’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center  

Meghan and Harry’s first child, Archie, was born at London’s private Portland Hospital, favoured by those wanting a money-no-object birthing experience.

And the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles can offer a similar level of comfort, expertise and exclusivity.

The Californian hospital is where celebrities like Victoria Beckham, Jessica Simpson and Kate Hudson are said to have given birth.

New mothers are given welcome packs which include nappies and a miniature bottle of wine, gourmet cuisine is also on offer, and, for those who do not want to be spotted arriving or leaving, secret entrances are available.

A suite at the Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles

A suite at the Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles 

The hospital’s deluxe maternity suite package costs thousands of pounds a night and includes a three-room suite which is said to provide a doula – someone who is not medically trained but helps a women through pregnancy, labour and birth.

Facilities provided by hospitals at this level are like five-star hotels and patients can ask for in-suite manicures, pedicures and a hairdresser so can they leave looking their best.

Meghan gave birth at London’s Portland Hospital in 2019, after reports that she was planning a home birth were followed by mystery when Buckingham Palace did not initially reveal where Archie had been born. 

There was also confusion when it emerged that Meghan had in fact already given birth when the palace announced she had gone into labour. 

Now free from palace supervision and ensconced in California, Meghan will enter a world where maternity units are used to handling A-list celebrities. 

One of LA’s most prominent childbirth facilities is at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where Kim and Kanye’s first child North West was born in 2013 and the Beckhams welcomed their daughter Harper in 2011.  

Journalist Celia Walden described being able to ‘gaze at the Hollywood sign’ while giving birth to a daughter there in 2011, writing in the Telegraph about how staff at Cedars-Sinai quizzed her about her ‘birthing plans’. 

When she expressed interest in a natural birth, an anesthesiologist laughed and told her: ‘Honey, in LA a natural birth means giving birth without your make-up on.’  

Rooms at Cedars-Sinai are thought to cost around $4,000 a night and come with a lounge, en-suite bathroom and 24/7 access to a personal assistant called a ‘doula’ who is trained to offer ‘physical, emotional and educational support’. 

New mothers are given welcome packs which include nappies and a miniature bottle of wine, gourmet cuisine is also on offer, and, for those who do not want to be spotted arriving or leaving, secret entrances are available. 

But Cedars-Sinai is by no means the only facility to offer luxury services, with the University of California in Los Angeles advertising deluxe suites and even a professional photographer contracted to take adorable baby portraits. 

UCLA’s self-styled BirthPlace in Santa Monica, where suites cost $330 per night, also comes with the promise of four hours of ‘nesting time’ per day when medical staff will not intrude into the baby’s first hours with its parents.

A second UCLA facility, at the Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Westwood, boasts of its ‘fine-dining room services similar to what is offered at a five-star hotel’, delivered by tuxedo-wearing waiters known as ‘food ambassadors’. 

Rooms at the Ronald Reagan clinic also have fridges, flat-screen TVs and a sofa-bed for overnight visitors.  

Meanwhile another facility, the Natural Birth Center, promises ‘freedom from interventions’ in suites which are ‘similar to an up-scale hotel’ – and also offers to dispatch midwives for a home birth. 

The Los Angeles facility aims not to replicate the feel of a hospital – saying that ’emergency equipment is not what you see when you first walk in’. 

It also offers hot tubs for a so-called ‘water birth’ which it describes as ‘one of the most gentle and peaceful forms of births’, while adding that mothers could do this at home by buying a pool.  

Victoria Beckham and baby daughter Harper in 2011

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian in 2013

Victoria Beckham had her daughter Harper (left) at the Cedars-Sinai facility in 2011, while Kim Kardashian and Kanye West (right) had their first child North at the same clinic in 2013  

The Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles can offer a similar level of comfort, expertise and exclusivity to the Portland Hospital where Meghan gave birth to the royal couple's first child in 2019

The Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles can offer a similar level of comfort, expertise and exclusivity to the Portland Hospital where Meghan gave birth to the royal couple’s first child in 2019 

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle released a photograph yesterday which showed them beaming with delight following the announcement they are expecting a second baby

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle released a photograph yesterday which showed them beaming with delight following the announcement they are expecting a second baby

Does a child born in America get automatic US citizenship? 

Any child born in the US gets automatic US citizenship under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

This states: ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.’

The only exception applies to the ‘jurisdiction’ element, which means children born to diplomats and other recognized government officials from foreign countries don’t get US citizenship if born on American soil.

Anyone born in the US gets citizenship for their life unless they make an action to give it up such as filing an oath.

For California mothers, there are also classes available in ‘hypnobirthing’, a method that teaches relaxation, meditation and ‘self-hypnosis’ to manage the pain of childbirth. 

Meghan’s royal counterpart Kate Middleton revealed she used the method to cope with severe morning sickness which she suffered during her three pregnancies. 

One California provider called The Soulful Birth offers classes for $450 per couple – or $385 in the current world of Zoom teaching – as well as a book on hypnobirthing. 

After the birth, there are providers which will turn the placenta into capsules which can be eaten or turned into a ‘smoothie’, a practice viewed sceptically by scientists. 

Supporters of the practice say it brings physical and psychological benefits, but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that ‘scientific evidence to support this is lacking’. 

Nonetheless, there are companies in California which offer the service for around $300 – promising to pick up a placenta from the delivery room once it is placed in a sealed bag. 

Walden also described LA mothers looking beyond hospitals and medics to recruit ‘crystal readers’ who supposedly predict a child’s nature. 

One of the baby’s characteristics can be predicted on a firmer basis – if it is born in the United States, it will automatically be eligible for US citizenship. 

The baby’s older brother Archie is also likely to be eligible for dual nationality, but the family’s immigration status in America has never been made public.   

Harry, Meghan and Archie left Britain for Canada in November 2019, meaning their first child Archie has not seen any of his British relatives since he was six months old.

They then moved to California, where they have bought an £11million mansion in Montecito and signed multi-million pound deals with Netflix and Spotify.

The Duke is expected to return to the UK this summer to see his family for the first time since the couple decided to leave Britain and step down from their roles in the Royal Family in what was dubbed ‘Megxit’.

Meghan was already said to be unlikely to join him for ‘personal and practical’ reasons, sources have said. 

The new Sussex baby will become eighth in line to the throne, after Prince Charles, Prince William, William’s three children George, Charlotte and Louis, Prince Harry and his eldest child 21-month-old Archie Mountbatten-Windsor.

At the beginnning: Alexi Lubomirski took this photo of Meghan and Harry in the grounds of Frogmore Cottage, their former Windsor home, one of two official engagement photos released in December, 2017

Wedding Day: This photo released by Kensington Palace following their nuptials in May 2018, showed the couple on the East Terrace of Windsor Castle

At the beginnning: Alexi Lubomirski took this photo of Meghan and Harry in the grounds of Frogmore Cottage, their former Windsor home, one of two official engagement photos released in December, 2017. Right: An official wedding photograph released by Kensington Palace following their nuptials in May 2018, showed the couple on the East Terrace of Windsor Castle

The couple have been hunkering down at a sprawling nine-bedroom mansion in Montecito that they purchased for $14.65million last June (pictured)

The couple have been hunkering down at a sprawling nine-bedroom mansion in Montecito that they purchased for $14.65million last June (pictured)

Harry retained his place in the line of succession despite his decision to quit royal life. The couple are yet to reveal when the baby is expected.

They announced last night on Valentine’s Day that they are expecting their second child – and said they were ‘overjoyed’ at their pregnancy. 

To celebrate the news yesterday, the couple released a black and white photograph which showed them beaming with delight.

Meghan lay with her head in her husband’s lap, her hand resting on her visible baby bump, while barefoot Harry cradled her head in his hand as the couple relaxed together under a tree on a sprawling sunlit lawn.

The picture was shot by photographer Misan Harriman, a friend of the duke and duchess. It was believed to have been taken in Montecito.

A spokesman for the couple said: ‘We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are overjoyed to be expecting their second child.’ 

The announcement comes after Meghan, 39, suffered a heartbreaking miscarriage last year. 

Mr Harriman said being asked to take the photograph felt especially poignant after the duchess’s miscarriage.  He said: ‘To be asked to help share this absolute joy after such an unimaginable loss and heartache is a marker of true friendship.’

Bookmakers immediately began offering odds for royal baby names last night, with Alfie and Alexandra emerging as early favourites. 

It comes almost exactly 37 years after Princess Diana was confirmed to be pregnant with her second child – Prince Harry. Buckingham Palace made that announcement on February 13, 1984.