Royal baby: The most asked questions answered

Fans of the royal family have been eager to discover as much detail as possible about the upcoming newest addition to the Windsor family after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they are expecting a baby.

The news spread around the world and Google has revealed that, after the UK, Australia and New Zealand are the countries asking the most questions about the royal baby, with Ireland and Poland seeing out the top five.

The web giant also compiled the most-asked questions typed into their search engine since the announcement was made on Monday morning.

When is the baby due? Will he or she have a title? And how will the child fit into the line of succession?

Here are the answers everyone is looking for.

1. When is royal baby due?

The Kensington Palace Twitter account broke the news by saying Meghan “is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019”. For those looking for a more precise time, she is believed to have already had her 12-week scan so those close to the couple are expecting the birth some time in April.

2. How old is Meghan Markle?

Meghan is 37 years old, three years older than her husband Harry.

3. When did Harry and Meghan get married?

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wed on May 19 this year. On the same day they were given the titles Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

The event was hailed as a joyous combination of tradition and modernity, bringing a gospel choir and rousing address from American preacher Bishop Michael Curry to the gothic surrounds of the 15th Century St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

4. Which royal is having a baby?

#RoyalBaby has been trending on social media for much of Monday morning, but not everyone would have seen the original announcement.

So to do away with any doubt, the only royal who we know for sure to be expecting a baby is Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

Whether there are any other royal buns in the oven is currently not public knowledge.

5. What months are spring?

Spring falls on the months when weather changes from a frosty, barren winter to a verdant and sunny summer, commonly thought to be from March to May in the UK.

6. What title will the new royal baby have?

If the new baby is a boy he will likely take one of Harry’s lesser titles, such as Earl of Dumbarton or Baron Kilkeel, which he was given on his wedding day.

If the happy couple have a daughter she will be known as Lady Mountbatten-Windsor.

The Met Office, which studies and reports on the UK’s weather, says there are two methods of understanding the months in which the seasons fall.

Meteorological seasons are based on how the temperature changes throughout the year, whereas astronomical seasons refer to the Earth’s movement around the sun.

Because of these differences the exact dates change slightly each year. In 2018 the meteorological spring began on March 1 and and ended on May 31 and the astrological spring started on March 20 and ended on June 21.

The dates are likely to be the same, or at least very close, for 2019.

8. Who is Prince Harry’s father?

Prince Harry’s father is Prince Charles, eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and heir apparent to the British throne. His mother was Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a car accident in Paris in 1997 when Harry was just 12 years old.

9. Who’s next in line for the throne?

Prince Charles, Harry’s father, is next in line for the throne, followed by Harry’s older brother Prince William.

William’s children, George, Charlotte and Louis, follow their father in the line of succession before Harry and then his new child, who will be seventh in line.

The news of Meghan’s pregnancy pushes Prince Andrew, Charles’s younger brother, into eighth in line, followed by his eldest daughter Beatrice and younger daughter Eugenie, who was married at St George’s Chapel on Saturday.

The new baby will be neither a prince nor a princess because King George V limited titles in the Royal Family in 1917.

The Queen made an amendment in late-2012 to declare that all of William and Kate’s children will be called Prince or Princess, but the same does not apply to Harry and Meghan’s offspring.