Royal fans await news of royal babies' first words, from Prince Louis saying: "Mary" for Mary Berry to Prince Archie saying: "Crocodile". But what about the parents' first words to their newborns?
The Duke of Sussex opened up about baby Archie's birth in his book Spare, admitting that he and his wife Meghan Markle began talking to their son just seconds after he was born on 6 May 2019 at London's Portland Hospital.
© Domic Lipinski/PA/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockThis was following the recommendation of their ayurvedic doctor, a professional who focuses on a holistic approach to physical and mental health.
"A nurse swept the baby into a towel and placed him on Meg's chest and we both cried to see him, meet him," recalled the royal after opening up about the complications with Archie's umbilical cord getting "tangled."
He continued: "Our ayurvedic doctor had advised us that, in the first minute of life, a baby absorbs everything said to them. So whisper to the baby, tell the baby your wish for him, your love. Tell. We told."
© NetflixHarry didn't divulge the exact words the new parents said to their child, but we imagine they did the same thing following Princess Lilibet's birth at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital two years later.
Harry opened up about what he wanted to say to his newborn daughter as he helped deliver her.
He wrote: "I slid my hands under the tiny back and neck. Gently, but firmly, as I’d seen in films, I pulled our precious daughter from that world into this, and cradled her just a moment, trying to smile at her, to see her, but honestly, I couldn’t see anything.
"I wanted to say: 'Hello.' I wanted to say: 'Where have you come from?' I wanted to say: 'Is it better there? Is it peaceful? Are you frightened? Don’t be, don’t be, all will be well. I’ll keep you safe.'"
Archie's first words
Most children speak their first word between 10 to 14 months old. The Duke previously admitted that his son had a diverse mix of early vocabulary.
During an appearance on James Cordon's show, The Late Late Show, he said: "My son is now over a year and a half, he is hysterical, he's got the most amazing personality, he's already putting two, three words together, he's already singing songs. His first word was 'crocodile', three syllables."
In his AppleTV+ mental health docuseries, The Me You Can't See, Harry said some of Archie's first words were also very sentimental.
Reflecting on his late mother, Princess Diana, the Duke said: "I got a photo of her in his nursery, and it was one of the first words that he said – apart from 'mama,' 'papa,' it was then 'grandma'. Grandma Diana."
Lilibet learns to talk
While Harry and Meghan didn't share the same intimate details about their daughter's first words, the Duchess did reveal that Lilibet began stringing full sentences together at three years old.
During their tour of Nigeria, she told students at the Lights Academy in Abuja: "So our daughter, Lili, she's much, much tinier than you guys.
"She's about to turn three. And a few weeks ago she looked at me and she would just see the reflection in my eyes. And she said 'Mama, I see me in you'.
"Oh, now she was talking really, literally. But I hung onto those words in a very different way. And I thought, yes, I do see me and you, and you see me and you, but as I look around this room, I see myself in all of you as well."
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