Royal photographer says Meghan and Harry baby photocall 'unlikely' to happen

A royal photographer says a post-birth photocall for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex is ‘unlikely’ to happen, given the lack of information from the palace.

Harry and Meghan are just weeks away from welcoming their first child, but there has been no confirmation from royal aides about which hospital the couple have chosen and whether they will leave with their newborn in front of the world’s press.

Tim Rooke, Shutterstock Royal Photographer, has photographed the Duchess of Cambridge with her three children after each of their births outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s hospital in Paddington.

“I don’t think we’re going to get the same thing with the Duchess of Sussex’s baby,” Mr Rooke told Cosmopolitan UK.

“I don’t think we’re going to see it at all. I think it’s going to be private.”

He adds: “At this point with Kate’s babies, we’d been briefed by the palace, but we’ve had no briefings whatsoever.”

Meghan and Harry have reportedly decided not to opt for the private Lindo Wing maternity ward. Instead, it’s believed that the couple have chosen somewhere in Windsor, but this has not been confirmed by their royal household.

In the lead-up to the births of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, parking restrictions were put in place outside the Lindo Wing.

There are currently no notices up outside the unit, which could indicate that the baby will be delivered elsewhere.

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Another suggestion is Frimley Park hospital in Surrey, which is around 16 miles away from Harry and Meghan’s new home Frogmore Cottage in Windsor. In comparison, the Lindo Wing is 25 miles away.

Mr Rooke points out: “They’ve already moved into Frogmore Cottage so why would they come up to West London to have the baby?”

The photographer, who has been taking pictures of the Royal Family since the early 1990s, thinks that the couple may opt out of the press photocall and instead, issue the first image of their newborn on their new Instagram account.

He says: “Obviously they just launched their Instagram. If they want to keep it private… they’ll just issue a picture and put it on Instagram.”

The Queen’s former press secretary, Dickie Arbiter, also thinks that the Sussexes may decide to skip the post-birth media call.

He toldYahoo UK‘s ‘The Royal Box:’ “That is entirely up to them and given the amount of bad press that Meghan has been having recently, Harry might say ‘deal with it, we’ll do it our way.’

“But we won’t know until nearer the time, they will decide how they want to do it.”

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Meghan has been subjected to a slew of negative headlines over the past few months, with claims that royal staff have dubbed her ‘difficult,’ and scrutiny of her baby shower in New York with her friends.

Mr Arbiter says that if Meghan does decide to give birth at the NHS-run Frimley Park hospital, the media interest will be “more controllable because it’s private land and the security services can stop photographers going onto that private land.”