Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan announced on Wednesday they had named their newborn son Archie as they showed him off to the world, saying their “little bundle of joy” was magic.
In a post on their Instagram account accompanying a picture of the parents with Queen Elizabeth, her husband Prince Philip and Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland, the couple said the seventh-in-line to the British throne would be known as Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
The announcement came hours after the new royal got his first taste of life in the limelight as Meghan and Harry appeared with him before a small group of media at St George’s Hall in Windsor castle where they held their wedding reception just under a year ago.
Harry tightly cradled his son, wrapped in a white shawl and wearing a hat.
“It’s magic – it’s pretty amazing and I have the two best guys in the world so I am really happy,” said a beaming Meghan, wearing a white sleeveless coat dress, when asked how she was finding being a new mother.
She said the boy, the seventh-in-line to the British throne who has not yet been publicly named, was calm, had the sweetest temperament and was sleeping well.
“He’s just been the dream,” she said, prompting Harry to quip: “I don’t know who he gets that from”.
Archie was born in the early hours of Monday morning, weighing 7 lb 3oz (3.26 kg), but few other details have been given about the birth.
“It’s great, parenting is amazing,” Harry said. “It’s only been two-and-a-half days, three days, but we’re just so thrilled to have our own little bundle of joy, to be able to spend some precious time with him as he slowly starts to grow up.”
After the brief photocall, the couple took their baby to see 93-year-old Elizabeth, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, to allow her to meet her eighth great-grandchild. Meghan’s mother is staying with the couple at their home Frogmore Cottage, on the castle’s estate.
“It will a nice moment to introduce the baby to more family and my mum’s with us as well,” Meghan, 37, said.
Britain’s royal family attracts huge fascination and there is particular interest in Harry and former U.S. actress Meghan, who are officially known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
