Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was born on May 6th. His only living grandmother, Doria Ragland, was there for his birth. Doria had been staying with the Sussexes in Frogmore Cottage for several weeks already before Meghan gave birth, and Doria stayed on for several weeks more to help out once Archie arrived. Reportedly, Doria cooked for the family and helped Meghan out with all of the immediate postpartum stuff. But now Doria is back at home in LA! So Meghan and Harry are in the market for a nanny:
She has been described as “indispensable,” but Doria Ragland has now departed Frogmore Cottage to return to her home in Los Angeles, meaning the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are now learning how to raise baby Archie without her. Meghan’s beloved mother, who spent over six weeks in the U.K. before and after her grandson’s birth, was photographed back at her Los Angeles home on Tuesday, where she was seen walking her dogs.
Doria had been living with Harry and Meghan at their home Frogmore Cottage in Windsor where she has her own en-suite bedroom. Sources say she was “indispensable” in helping the couple to prepare for the arrival of their first baby, and is so close to them that she was present at Archie’s birth two weeks ago . Doria was also personally name checked in the official palace statement announcing Archie’s birth, and was invited to join the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh for an official and historic family portrait.
As Vanity Fair has previously reported, Doria is not planning to move to the U.K. full time, but she will be a regular visitor to Windsor. According to an aide, one of the reasons the couple chose Windsor is because it so close to Heathrow airport.
Described by another senior aide as “hands on,“ Harry and Meghan chose not to hire a maternity nurse during the early weeks of Archie’s life. Instead Meghan, who is nursing, has relied on her mother, who helped cook nourishing meals for the family and trained in baby yoga before arriving in the UK. Now that Doria has left, the couple will no doubt be turning their attention to finding the right nanny for baby Archie. There has been speculation that Meghan is keen to hire an American, but the Sussexes held off making an appointment before now because they wanted to be hands on and settle in as a new family.
“They wanted to do it themselves and they didn’t want a lot of fuss, that’s not their style,” said a source close to the couple. “They’ve wanted to be involved and hands on.”
With Harry juggling work engagements with fatherhood—he is flying to Rome for a charity polo match on Friday, and Buckingham Palace announced yesterday that he will attend the opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup next week—one thing is certain: Meghan is going to need some help at home.
I like how it’s just a given that Meghan and Harry will need to hire one or more people to help out in the weeks/months to come. It’s so normalized in royal circles, we forget that it’s actually sort of unusual for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to only have ONE nanny for their three children. And Meghan would be seen as “breaking protocol” if she didn’t want to hire a full-time nanny immediately too, even though there is no such protocol, it’s just what happens when a royal woman gives birth. Anyway, I have no idea what kind of nanny Meghan and Harry will choose but I imagine they’ll find someone in the next month or so.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instagram.
I thought Harry was getting a paternity leave? Is it all of 2 weeks?
He almost worked more during Archie’s first two week than he normally does. He only work around a 100 days per year, so maybe they don’t need a full time nanny right now.
100 events, not days. It’s actually probably closer to like 70 days a year. Royals are great at fluffing their numbers. Even Charles’ 400 events is on less than 200 days of actual work because any change in location counts as a different event.
Yeah, I just looked it up. as an example, Anne worked 455 events in the UK last year (85 overseas) but only worked 180 days, and that was the highest total for a royal. But I guess the takeaway is that presumably the days she does work are long days, with a lot of events at night, so if you have little kids a full time nanny makes sense.
@Becks1, We also have to remember that Anne actively manages an arable and pastoral farming estate and is very big in coaching-instructing for Three-Day-Horse Eventing. I realize she has help with her estate and the riding instructions part but from all I have read she is very hands on (much more so than Charles with Highgrove) and has no problem mucking out a barn if an extra pair of hands is needed to get the job done. God I love this woman.
@Bay – yup. Honestly the youngers should be embarrassed at how hardworking Anne is compared to them.
I love the honesty here. Even if Harry is working 100 days a year, what about all of the mums how do it all themselves? The mums who have no husband/partner/family and still manage the children and work, without hiring a nanny. Sure they have money and they can and will hire help but can we stop treating them like normal, ‘no fuss’, down to earth people?
Also with the whole being exiled thing, they’re multi-millionaires. What is stopping them from buying their own place in London? Why do they need to be gifted somewhere?
@Blue Orange, Frogmore was selected by them PRIOR to the wedding, as the place they wanted to live. NO ONE was *exiled* to Windsor. I wish people would just stop with that nonsense.
Oh please…so you think that they are only working when you see them in public. Also don’t say that all the behind scenes work is done for them by other people because it is not true. The royals have a lot of demands on their attention, and do an awful lot of forward planning.
They chose Windsor because it’s near the airport for Doria’s visits. I wonder who really believes that.
I mean, at this rate they could have hired a nanny and no one knows about it, lol. I feel like the media is always a bit behind with them.
By all accounts Jessica Mulroney is visiting now (she’s definitely in London, so I’m assuming she’s visiting them). Not that that means anything, I’m just saying, lol.
I thought it was pretty well established that Kate and Will did have more than one nanny. They definitely had multiple nannies around the time Louis was born, maybe now they are all under Nanny Maria’s care?
Anyway, re Harry and Meghan and the royals in general – I am sure there is still household help, so even if there isn’t a nanny, if Meghan has someone there cleaning, doing laundry etc, that’s going to make a difference for how she spends her time with the baby. I know they’ve said they don’t have any live in help (right?) but that’s different than no help, period.
Yes, Will and Kate also don’t have a live-in cook or maid, but they have staff.
I hope Meghan does have staff. A night nurse or someone doing the laundry (it’s like every other day with newborns), cooking and cleaning.
I’m sure Doria was happy to visit and help Meghan and Archie, but she also seems to love her LA life: her dogs, teaching yoga, social work. I’m sure she’ll be visiting again soon. Hopefully the press give her some space
Hey Becks1 how do you know Jessica Mulroney is in London?
Someone here mentioned it yesterday, and I looked it up and she was spotted boarding a flight to London at the Toronto airport.
She was photographed at the airport with her daughter.
1. she was spotted at the airport and 2. she posted on instagram
Becks1– this may seem ignorant but where did u see the photos of Jessica at the airport? If I do a simple web search the only photos are not recent & also her ig & Twitter.
The Daily Mail has airport pictures and her shopping at a toy store near Frogmore
Thanks Eliza I should have known the Fail would be on it. Their article is hardly a great piece of detective work tho – all they did was paste in one of her insta posts at the toy store. This seems to be par for the course with the fail – attention grabbing headline but article is lacking in anything new or detailed & they repeat and rehash over and over again.
I think Will and Kate have one nanny who has several nursery maids working under her but I could be wrong.
I remember they had an ad out for an additional one around the time Louis was born.
They definitely have other nannies. How can nanny Maria work 24/7 non stop?
The Cambridges have one nanny, but they (like all royals and all wealthy people) use a baby nurse in the first few weeks after birth.
It seems like they would have hired a nanny before giving birth and set the start date for several weeks after the birth.
What happened to “they will not use a nanny”?
Who was it that said they wouldn’t?
I think Jessica Mulroney came to cover while Harry goes to Rome and to visit Meghan and Archie. She only brought her daughter who probably wanted to see the baby.
I can see Harry and Meghan limiting who’s around Archie as long as possible and strangers in their house.
Didn’t the Cambridge kids not meet Archie because they didn’t want kiddie/school germs around him? (Totally understandable, kids are petri dishes)
Jessica Mulroney’s father-in-law was one of the most corrupt Canadian Prime Ministers of all time. He took A LOT of money in bribes. Not her fault, obviously (she wasn’t involved in any way whatsoever), but it’s just so weird to see the Mulroney name in connection with the Sussexes.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mulroney-tried-to-cover-up-cash-payments-he-received-in-hotel-rooms-schreiber-1.648379
Lol – Toot I am finding it hard to picture Jessica Mulroney – who has a fleet of hired help for her own kids & home- rolling up her sleeves and helping Meghan with childcare and household work!!
On another note, Ben Mulroney as the host of ETalk – gossip & entertainment show – must be so conflicted & frustrated when he can’t report on any of the details concerning his visit. So ironic really when his show always includes stuff about the royals & act like they always get the “exclusive”. The gig is clearly up if he betrayed Meghan….
The media knows nothing about this couple. They didn’t know Doria had arrived in the UK and had no idea she left until the photographer stalking her saw her with her dog in LA. They literally have no insider leaking info about this couple so everything you read about what’s going on inside the Sussex home is a mix of educated guesses and fiction.
I’m sure the Sussexes already have help in place. Meghan strikes me as someone very organized and prepared. As usual the media won’t know about a nanny until they catch her in a paparazzi photo which is unlikely considering the Sussexes move like ninjas.
I agree. They know very little about the Sussexes.
Exactly, Harry and Meghan know how to move in and out and around about London and the UK without people knowing.
I completely agree.
The Queen is alive. And she is his grandmother too.
I think she was referring to Archie’s grandmother.
**greatgrandmother. Big diff…..
Yeah. Harry’s mom is… very much… not alive.
Lots of the women I work with have or had day time nannies. We’re well past the days when It was just a luxury for the wealthy.
For real. I’m a bookkeeper, hardly royalty and I had a nanny for both children. That said, I hope she gets a California nanny, so the kid has a Cali accent to go with the name.
Some people on social media are concern trolling about Harry’s work schedule. In reality, his engagements are maybe a few hours a week. That’s not a long time to be away from a child considering other parents work anywhere from 8 to 16 hrs a day, 5 days a week. I’m confident that Meghan and Archie have some of the best support in the world.
I think the Sussexes are taking their time hiring help in order to vet them and get NDAs in place.
I’m glad you didn’t post photos of Doria back in CA like some tabloids have, it seems unnecessary and a breach of privacy.
“Doria stayed on for several weeks more to help out once Archie arrived.”
Doria left 2 weeks after Archie’s birth. How’s that “several?”
Realistically, they need a nanny or two no matter how hands-on they are. If they’re going to be working, they need to have reliable help with Archie. It’s not like if they have an evening engagement, they can just go on care.com like most people would- they need to have someone vetted who is always available.
Worrying about a nanny they more than likely already have in place is nothing more than concern trolling by the tabs.
I wonder as Archie grows older and if Meghan and Harry decide to have another child, would Doria consider moving to England part-time/full-time? Meghan is her only child and those will be her only grand-children. Meghan is never going to move back to the USA, even if she and Harry divorce (I think the optics of raising her children in the US would look bad as Harry would never be able to move to the US full time to be near them). I dunno, I could see over time as her grand-children get older she would want to be closer to them. I’m just thinking out loud.
Maybe. This reminds me of Michelle Obama’s memoir, and she begged her mom to stay in DC and basically had to get her brother to talk to her and be like “MOM THEY NEED YOU”. I’m guessing that Doria, like MO’s mom, doesn’t want to be seen as riding some gravy train, which of course is ridiculous, because there is nothing wrong with needing your family nearby. I think even race plays a roll in their choices are black women to remain a little separate and independent to avoid criticism (sad, but possibly true). I bet with some time and age (it doesn’t get easier to travel that far as you age!) she will make the move.