How Baby Sussex Changes Mother’s Day
The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle gave birth to a baby boy on the morning of May 6, 2019—six days before Mother’s Day. The next morning, Shani Orgad, author of Heading Home: Motherhood, Work, and the Failed Promise of Equality co-penned an op-ed on The Hill in which she discusses a more progressive Mother’s Day. Below is an excerpt from the article.
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Shortly after the birth of his son, in a statement at Windsor Castle, the ecstatic new father Prince Harry said: “How any woman does what they do is beyond comprehension.” The Duke of Sussex’s public appreciation for women’s labor reflects the couple’s progressive mindset, as manifest throughout Meghan Markle’s pregnancy.
Referring to the Queen’s doctors, Markle said she didn’t want “the men in suits” to supervise the birth, and appointed her own delivery team, led by a female obstetrician. Markle has also reportedly expressed her desire to hire an American rather than a British nanny, saying she was “fiercely proud of her American roots.”
Fascination with the royal couple as emblematic of a new era continues as millions wait for the Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry to present the first royal Anglo-American multiracial baby to the herd of photographers stranded outside the couple’s new home in Windsor.
A few days later, the 37-year-old former actress will join millions of U.S. mothers to celebrate Mother’s Day. But what would a reinvented version of this annual ritual look like not just for the royals but for mothers everywhere? How could the value of what any woman does be truly appreciated?
