Another Royal Baby on the Way…but when exactly?

2018 has been a busy year for the younger members of the British royal family. No sooner was the second royal wedding of the year over when the first couple to wed Harry and Meghan, announced that they were ‘pregnant’.

Just days after Prince Andrew’s daughter, Eugenie got hitched, Kensington Palace announced that the Duchess of Sussex will give birth in the spring.

Naturally this has led to a wave of speculation as to how far along she is and whether this is a honeymoon baby. And most importantly for news outlets, the bigger question will be when she is most likely to ‘be delivered’ of her firstborn, to use some royal parlance. Some astrologers are suggesting that the child will have a Taurus baby, which means an April-May 2019 birth. I am also of a mind to think that it will be sooner rather than later in the Spring – my initial feeling, looking at Meghan’s transits, was that this baby was most probably conceived in July 2018.

However,  it’s always good to go back and have a closer look.

Of course, it goes without saying that when it comes to the royals and their busy schedules, it is always possible to induce birth or schedule a Caesarian section, just as Princess Diana was forced to do for the birth of Prince Harry. So, it’s possible that we may never know Meghan’s actual due date. But it’s always worth having a crack, just as ancient astrologers were want to do before the invention of scans and ultrasounds. So without any further ado…

Primary Astrological Significators

As a rule, no astrologer can really make any predictions until they have first got their bearings around possible key planetary significators.

In Meghan’s case, her primary ‘pregnancy’ planets are:

• The Moon – ruler of her chart (Cancer AS) and the planet most associated with motherhood and birth, given the close connection between the moon’s monthly phases and a woman’s menstrual cycle.
• Saturn – Many astrologers who specialise in fertility tend to look at Saturn as an indicator of conception because of its association with earthly manifestation. In Meghan’s case, we have the added consideration of her natal Moon and Saturn being in very close proximity. Added to that, Saturn rules Meghan’s DS, so it may also tell us something about Harry and his new role as a father. So, definitely worth keeping an eye on, then!
• Pluto/Mars – co-rulers of Meghan’s  5th house of children and therefore important in terms of anything to do with pregnancy and birth.
• Uranus & Neptune – both planets are located in the 5th house, so could give us a flavour of what Meghan might be like as a mum etc

Meghan and Motherhood

What can we deduce from looking at the above indicators?

For one thing, Meghan will probably think long and hard before making any sort of decision to have a baby. Pluto in Libra in her 4th house of family suggests that she doesn’t take close commitments lightly. My sense from looking at her natal chart is that she experienced quite a tumultuous childhood with a fair bit of drama or pretty intense, love-hate bonds with her immediate family. Either way, trust and commitment are important to her in intimate relationships, so I don’t see her agreeing to have children unless she feels that the foundations of her life are rock solid.

It may also be significant that Meghan recently experienced her first mid-life transit, the Pluto square.  Typically, this tends to coincide with a health scare or seminal life or death event that reminds us of our own mortality, so it’s possible that the Pluto square may acted as a catalyst, creating an added degree of urgency to the prospect of having children while she still is of childbearing age and there are fewer risks to the foetus etc.

Sudden and Quick Pregnancy

Many people have privately commented that the pregnancy announcement seems rather soon, coming just 5 months after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got married. Just by way of comparison, if we compare Meghan and Harry’s announcement to that of his brother Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge’s first pregnancy was announced at just over 83 weeks after their wedding in 2011, while the Sussexes pregnancy announcement came just 21 weeks after their nuptials in 2018. So a LOT faster!

However, we do need to remember that these two are not spring chickens – Harry is 34 and Meghan is 37 – so time is not on their side as far as the window of fertility and the risk of pregnancy complications is concerned.

Astrologically, there is also a another explanation. If we consider that Mars is the co-ruler of Meghan’s natal 5th house cusp, then this makes more sense. Mars is known for being decisive, quick off the mark and not exactly one for hanging around, so fast conception is in keeping with the traditional ruler of Meghan’s house of children.

Meghan’s natal Mars is also in Cancer, the zodiac sign most closely associated with motherhood, and it is in the 12th house. This sector of the natal chart used to be called the House of Confinement for several reasons. Not only does it refer to the likelihood of imprisonment or institutionalisation, but it was also associated with the customary practice during the middle ages for upper class women to withdraw from society as their due date drew closer. For medieval astrologers, then, it was the house most associated with the final stages of pregnancy and birth, no doubt because of its proximity to the Ascendant, the chart point most closely associated with birth in the astrological chart.

Lunar Phases

From an astrological perspective, many people believe that the phases of the Moon also has important implications for when a woman will conceive and when she will give birth. This is sometimes known as Moon matching.

Given that Meghan’s first house is ruled by her Cancer Ascendant,  which means that her appearance and the health and/or biorhythms of her physical body are ruled by the Moon,  it is certainly worth looking at if we are trying to predict conception and/or possible birth periods.

Below is a snapshot of the Moon Phases Calendar for the month that Meghan was born from Moon Connection.com.

This shows that Meghan was born on around Day 4 after the New Moon, so this is likely to be the Moon phase in her own menstrual cycle during which she is likely to conceive. This means that she is most likely to conceive and/or give birth WITHIN 4 days of the NEW MOON, or 4 days BEFORE the WANING MOON. The folklore behind this is that at both these points, the images of the Moon match up because the waxing and waning phases of the moon’s cycle are mirror images of each other. Hence the idea of Moonmates. If we add on 14 days from Day One, we get to Day 17/18 in the above Moon Phase Calendar, which is just after the full moon.

So, if we fast forward to spring 2019 (which astrologers would consider to run from the Sun’s ingress into Aries at vernal equinox on or around 21 March to the summer solstice on or around June 21). This gives us the following dates:

• 11, 31 March 2019
• 9 April 2019
• 1 May, 9 May, 30 May 2019.

So how do we narrow down the month? Well, that involves trying to predict conception, which is what we will look at next.

Month of Conception

When Meghan’s pregnancy was announced, it was not explicitly stated how far along the Duchess was except that they were looking forward to a birth in the spring of 2019. Most couples only announce their pregnancy after the 12 week mark because the baby is usually considered safe from the risk of miscarriage after the first trimester.

However, there is the October royal wedding to consider: Meghan and Harry may have waited until after Princess Eugenie’s nuptials to avoid stealing her thunder. Then there are the newspaper reports which suggest that she may have told a singer on her tour of Australia that she is four months’ pregnant…

So not terribly clear. Can astrology help to narrow this down?

Looking at Meghan’s transits between the time of her wedding on 19 May 2018 and the official baby announcement on 15 October – a period of almost five months (or 20 weeks) – it seems most likely from what already know, that she conceived somewhere between June and July 2018.

We can then narrow down possible conception dates for this period using the Moon matching technique. This gives us several windows around this period, which are the days on either side of:

• 19 May
• 10 June
• 18 June
• 10 July
• 17 July
• 7 August.

The most likely, of course, is the one in the middle if we assume that the Duchess of Sussex had already had her three month scan before her pregnancy announcement was made in mid-October.

However, what does the astrology tell us? Can any other supporting transits narrow things down?

Let’s look at each date in concert:

May 2018 – Very close to the royal wedding, which would make this child a ‘honeymoon’ baby. Meghan has several planetary indicators on this date that could be deemed significant for the conception of a boy. These include:

• Moon in Cancer (pregnancy/motherhood) conjunct Meghan’s natal Part of the Son (first house of the body). Natally, this Arabic Part is trine to Uranus in the 5th house (pregnancy, children) which could fit the symbolism for a sudden/quick pregnancy. It is certainly something to bear in mind when it comes to conceiving any future sons.
• The transiting Part of Life is also trine natal Neptune in the 5th, which could be another tick.
• On top of that, the transiting Part of the Son (5th) is making a trine to Meghan’s Leo Sun, which in her chart, happens to be conjunct the Part of the Mother. Now, this DOES sound pretty important!
• The only potential downers are transiting Mars opposing the Part of Life and some challenging aspects from transiting Uranus which could cancel out the positive ones. Transiting Jupiter in the 4th house is also square to the Part of the Mother – another negative.

June 2018 – As far as the June dates are concerned, the early one (10 June) shows some possible indications of the conception of a daughter via a Venus (1st)- Uranus (5th) trine and the presence of the Part of the Daughter in the 5th house. However, this aspect doesn’t appear to be backed up by the Part of the Mother. However, transiting Mars does make a rather promising trine to Meghan’s natal Moon–Jupiter-Saturn conjunction. The particular combination of Mars (ruler of 5th) with the Moon and Saturn, the great manifester, seems pretty radical and a definite configuration to consider as far as pregnancy is concerned. Add to that the fact the transiting Part of Life is conjunct this stellium in Libra, and things really start to look very interesting!

The later date (19 June) looks even more promising for conception overall, this time for a son – although I couldn’t rule out a daughter here either (twins?) due to the Arabic Parts in the 1st house. Not only is the Mars trine to the Moon-Jupiter-Saturn stellium still in play, but transiting Venus in Cancer then throws her hat in the ring, sextiling natal Mercury from the 1st house. Why is this important? Well, Meghan’s Mercury makes a sextile to this stellium natally and it is in the 1st house of the body. What’s more, the transiting Part of the Mother is conjunct Meghan’s natal Pluto in the 4th (family, home) which in turn, makes a positive aspect to her natal POM.  If I was a betting person, this is probably the date I would plump for.

July 2018 – The waxing moon date really doesn’t look like a goer for several reasons, not least of which is a square between transiting Jupiter and Meghan’s 1st house Sun-POM, as well as a lack of other positive indicators.

The waning moon date (19 July), on the other hand does look pretty promising, with strong indicators for the conception of a boy. Not only we do have the Cancer Sun lighting up several pregnancy indicators in the 1st house, including the Part of Life, but we have a positive hit between Uranus (5th) and the Part of Sons. The Virgo Moon is also conjunct Meghan’s natal Moon and the Mars trine to her lunar stellium is still in play. My next best conception date.

August – Although to me, the beginning of August does also look good from an astrological perspective, it does not fit in terms of current guestimates. In essence, it would mean that the Duchess was only around 10 weeks when her pregnancy was announced. Still, it is hard ignore. Not only is it just after Meghan’s birthday (4th) which might suggest some post-party babymaking, but the Part of Daughters has now joined Mars in the 7th, reinforcing the trine to the Meghan’s Moon stellium in Libra. The Sun and Mercury in Leo are also conjunct Meghans’ natal POM. However, this one does not have an Arabic Part in the 5th, nor does the Moon really feature strongly in this chart.

So, drum roll! First place goes to: late June, then late July, with runner-up position going to early August.

Best guess royal birth dates.

Given all of this analysis, my best guess is that Meghan most likely conceived in late June. This would have put her at just over 16 weeks when her pregnancy was announced in mid-October, It also means that she would have had her three month scan by that stage (tick!). It would also suggest that the media reports in Australia which suggested she had let slip to a singer at a meet and greet, that she was already four months’ gone were, in fact, correct.

A June conception make the birth date  a lot earlier than Meghan and Harry’s wedding anniversary: around late February, early March 2019! So, potentially, an Aquarian or Pisces princeling/mini-Meghan. 

Of course, if it is the middle date, then it would fall more clearly into expected time frames of a March-April birth.

No doubt there’ll be a ton of speculation and rumours between now and then, so watch this space for future updates.

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