Meghan Markle’s pregnancy announcement came exactly 37 years after UK newspapers announced that Princess Diana was expecting Prince Harry.
The duke and duchess said they were “very happy to be expecting their second child” in an advertisement on Valentine’s Day – the same day that UK newspapers published Lady Di’s pregnancy on its front pages in 1984.
“Secret behind that smile … a baby!” read the front page of the Daily Mail, with a picture of a smiling Diana.
The Daily Express said the same “smile that says it all”.
“September baby for the princess,” reported the Telegraph at the time, adding that “the queen says she is delighted.”
Diana’s pregnancy announcement was made at the end of the previous day – with the time difference allowing the Post to win UK newspapers and publish the story on its front page on February 13 of that year.
“Mom is the right word for Princess Di – again,” New York’s favorite newspaper titled its story about the ad.
The Sun, which also celebrated the pregnancy on its front page – although saying that Diana wanted a girl – suggested on Monday that the Sussex may have deliberately chosen the date as a “secret nod” to Harry’s mother, who died in a car accident in August 1997.
Baby Sussex will be eighth in the line of succession – behind older brother Archie, who will be two in May, and his 36-year-old father, Harry, who is sixth in the line of succession, noted The Telegraph.
The news comes a few months after Markle talked about her “almost unbearable pain” after suffering a miscarriage in July.