Duchess Meghan urged not to follow in Kate’s footsteps when Baby Sussex arrives
A mum and CEO has taken a leaf out of Keira Knightley’s book, imploring the Duchess of Sussex (that’s Meghan to us) to rethink her very first postpartum appearance.
Dear Meg
Traditionally – i.e. if you are Kate the Duchess of Cambridge – you tidy yourself up after the birth and pop out onto the steps of St Mary’s Hospital Lindo Wing to show the assembled media and the TV-viewing/web streaming public.
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Last year Keira Knightley very famously wrote what she had apparently hoped would be an essay in support of the Duchess of Cambridge’s postpartum perfection, but what was taken as a passionate critique. In the piece she touched on how traumatising childbirth can be, pointing out that Kate was probably feeling 274 times worse than she looked with her tidy blowout.
“We stand and watch the TV screen. She was out of hospital seven hours later with her face made up and high heels on. The face the world wants to see,” Keira wrote.
“Hide. Hide our pain, our bodies splitting, our breasts leaking, our hormones raging. Look beautiful. Look stylish, don’t show your battleground, Kate.”
Read more about Duchess Meghan:
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- New details about Meghan’s birth plans have just been leaked
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Chelsea Hirschhorn mum and CEO of parenting brand Fridababy has taken up where Keira left off, this time addressing the Duchess of Sussex in a marketing strategy an open letter posted on Instagram.
“Dear Royal Mom-To-Be,” Chelsea wrote. “You will soon give birth to one of the most anticipated babies in the world and like your princess predecessors, you’ll be expected to parade outside of the hospital in front of throngs of photographers to show off your new bundle of joy shortly after giving birth. You’ll smile, you’ll wave, you’ll be radiant, but between your legs will be a whole different story.”
The royal fanny
Yup. She went there, just like Keira did, apparently trying to advocate for the royal vulva when honestly we’re not sure who asked her to.
“Sure your blowout will be perfect for your hospital step photo-op, but people will be opining on all the wrong things instead of having an honest conversation about what women go through during birth and immediately thereafter,” Chels continued.
“In my line of work we tackle the side of childbirth that won’t get as much airtime. Women are breaking down barriers left and right, so why is it still considered taboo to talk about the raw aftermath of what your body just went through?”
“The aftermath is a mess”
To be clear, we’re all for talking about the realities of childbirth … but are also all for women talking about their vulvas, vaginas, labia etc in ways that make sense to them. I mean, it’s not likely that I’d stand in front of a generous chunk of the world’s population and talk about my vulva, but perhaps Chelsea’s right and I should just give it a whirl?
“Bringing a new life into the world usually starts with your vagina, and the aftermath is a mess,” Chelsea confides.
“The bleeding and swelling will linger, peeing will burn, and sitting like your old self will feel like a herculean feat. And if it’s a C-section, there’s a whole host of other issues to tend to.”
Change things up
Chelsea must have thought the relentless global criticism of Meghan needed a fresh injection of subject matter. #HasntSheSufferedEnough?
Chelsea then summoned up a hypothetical which saw Meg flashing her postpartum undies or simply letting Harry debut the couple’s baby while Meg stays in bed.
Honestly, we’re not hating the idea of the no-Meg baby reveal in some ways, if that’s what Meg wants … but also she birthed a whole human and every woman deserves the world’s praise when that happens. Why should Harry get all the attention?
What WE think is a brilliant idea (in an ideal world where it was even up to us to speak on someone else’s birth choice) is for the first glimpse of the royal baby to be a traditional messy and joy-filled shot of mum, dad and bub snuggling together in bed as mum recovers. Or a sweet Instagram video showing the family getting to know one another. (We’re totally fine with it if Meg wants to blow-dry her hair, btw!)
And we actually agree that the parade on the Lindo Wing’s steps really could be skipped … and that we’d rather see something a little more intimate and normal … if very royal.
Thoughts?
