She is quitting London — reportedly to avoid living next door to her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge — and now the Duchess of Sussex is making plans to give birth at a different hospital from Kate.
While Prince William’s wife had all three of her children in the private Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, West London, Meghan Markle could have a Home Counties baby.
I hear plans are being made for Prince Harry’s first child, which is due in the spring, to be born in Surrey, at Frimley Park Hospital, where the Prince’s aunt, the Countess of Wessex, had her two children.
A source tells me: ‘If their Royal Highnesses have moved to Frogmore Cottage before the birth, as planned, Frimley Park may be a more easily accessible option than St Mary’s.’
Harry and Meghan’s new Windsor Estate home, which is undergoing refurbishment, is 15 miles from Frimley Park, while St Mary’s is 23 miles away and would involve a journey through congested Central London.
A Frimley Park birth would no doubt delight Prince Edward’s wife, Sophie, who sang its praises after she had Lady Louise Windsor and Viscount Severn there.
The Countess holds its staff in such high esteem that she became tearful when she returned in 2014 to open its neonatal unit. Her emotion was such because she nearly died while giving birth to her first child some ten years earlier.
In 2003, Sophie was rushed to the hospital from the couple’s Bagshot Park home with crippling abdominal pains. Staff realised she needed an emergency caesarean, as she had signs of acute placental abruption — where the placenta separates prematurely from the uterus.
Thankfully, the operation, overseen by the Queen’s obstetrician, Marcus Setchell, was a complete success.
Is Grantchester star Robson Green in the wrong business? ‘There are a couple of things I’ve done where I’ve walked off because I just can’t abide the people I’m working with,’ admits the actor, 54.
‘Narcissism is part of the equation of being an actor but, my God, there’s different levels and scales and I’ve been alongside most of them.’
Happily, Green bonded with his ITV co-star James Norton, though Robson does find him demanding: ‘He doesn’t reply to texts. He’s terrible. But, my God, when he texts me, he wants a reply.’
