56 Royal Pregnancy, Birth, and Baby Rules That’ll Truly Blow Your Mind (2024)

This is one tradition that’s actually pretty in line with most other expectant parents: royals wait to announce until the end of the first trimester.

It’s royal dress code to wear closed-toed shoes, and apparently the rule applies no matter how swollen a pregnant woman’s feet get? And if you’re thinking, “Well, then I’d just go with comfy sneakers,” lol, that’s definitely not happening. Royal women tend to be seen with heels—not even flats—throughout their entire pregnancy.

Possibly because she’s an American and baby showers are more of a thing on this side of the pond, Meghan Markle went ahead and opted out of the “no baby showers” rule. The Suits actress and her friends gathered for a very extravagant baby shower in NYC, and it was, by all accounts, amazing.

Some people in the UK were pretty peeved by Meghan having a baby shower (🙄 )—including Queen Elizabeth’s former press spokesman, who called it “a bit over the top.” Literally not sure why anyone thinks they get to have an opinion about Meghan wanting to hang with her friends and celebrate her pregnancy, but okay.

To prevent details about royal births being leaked, the medical team that helps deliver the royal baby must vow total discretion when they take on the job.

To make sure they’re ready for royal baby action at any moment during the third trimester, the royal birth team is asked to abstain from alcohol (and traveling!) for three full months.

It’s not a rule or anything, but over the past 40 or so years, the royal family has favored the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital in London as the place to give birth. But actually, the royal family used to favor home births—Queen Elizabeth had all four of her children at home!

In a very weird flex by the British government, it used to be customary for an official to attend royal births. The tradition stopped when Queen Elizabeth gave birth to Prince Charles in 1948.

Wow, her hair is SOMETHING else. Bow in the presence of feathery greatness.

Wait, Diana’s hair is even more iconic.

At the time of Archie's birth, the Palace released a statement saying, “The Duke and duch*ess look forward to sharing the exciting news with everyone once they have had an opportunity to celebrate privately as a new family.” But Meghan told Oprah that because the royal family did not want to give Archie the title of "prince," the photo-call was not a tradition they had access to: "That's also part of the spin that was really damaging. I thought, 'Can you just tell them the truth? Can you say to the world you're not giving him a title, and we want to keep him safe, and that if he's not a prince then it's not part of the tradition?'" she said. "Just tell people and then they'll understand. But they wouldn't do that."

Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack decided to introduce their baby to the world on Instagram—a pretty big departure from the steps of the Lindo Wing.

Was there a gun salute after your birth? Didn’t think so. But when a royal baby is born, 62 guns go off from the Tower of London. Gun salutes are actually pretty common across the pond—they’re fired on important dates throughout the year, including the Queen’s birthday.

I think we can all agree that 62 seems like an incredibly random number, but there’s actually a reason why so many salutes are fired from the Tower of London. While a basic salute is 21 rounds fired, an extra 20 are added because the Tower of London is a royal palace, and then an additional 21 are fired because it’s in the City of London—all of which adds up to a grand total of 62 rounds. The whole thing usually lasts around 10 minutes.

If the 10 minutes of gunfire doesn’t alert Londoners that a royal baby has arrived, the illuminated landmarks probably do the trick. The London tower, the Golden Jubilee Bridges, Trafalgar Square, and the London Eye are just a few of the iconic landmarks that light up with either blue or pink (depending on the gender of the baby) or England’s colors of red, white, and blue after a royal baby is born.

Again, there is literally no escaping royal baby news for the British! Once the news of a royal birth is announced, Union Jacks are flown from all government buildings, royal naval ships, and defense establishments.