A royal’s work is never done! Prince Harry is on a limited paternity leave after the birth of son Archie, his first child with wife Duchess Meghan.
According to a Kensington Palace source, the 34-year-old will appear at one engagement per week for the next month, which is a typical “paternity leave” for the British royals. “The summer is going to be busy for him, but until mid-June, we won’t be seeing him more than once a week,” the source tells Us Weekly.
Harry did step out for the Royal Windsor Horse Show with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip on Saturday, May 11, but the source clarifies that the event wasn’t an engagement; it was “just him going out with his grandparents.” Harry also traveled to The Hague last week and to Oxford on Tuesday, May 14, but those days “saw him home by 5 p.m.,” the source says. “His whole life revolves around Archie at the moment.”
Dickie Arbiter, Elizabeth’s former press spokesman, told Us in March that the Duke of Sussex would scale back his schedule after his child’s arrival.
“It’s a modern thing,” Arbiter, 79, said at the time. “Prince William did it for his children and Harry’s going to do it for his, when his child is born. I mean, the older generation didn’t do it. The older generation just got on with it. But it’s a new thing. People do it, William did it, and Harry is going to do it.”
As for Harry’s wife, the former Suits star, 37, won’t be resting on her laurels. Meghan “plans to return to work as soon as possible,” an insider told Us in April. “She came into the royal family with so many goals and plans on forging ahead.”
The royal couple welcomed Archie on May 6, and Harry raved about his family to the press hours later. “I am so incredibly proud of my wife, and as every father and parent would ever say, your baby is absolutely amazing, but this little thing is absolutely to die for,” he said. “So I’m just over the moon.”
With reporting by Travis Cronin