Duchess of Sussex had a Miscarriage

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The Duchess of Sussex has revealed that she suffered a miscarriage in July and the loss of her second child, in an opinion piece for the New York Times. The Duke and Duchess, who got married in 2018, and have one son, son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, stepped down from their roles to carve a new role outside the Royal Family earlier this year, since which they reside in Los Angeles. The section of the article about the incident goes:

It was a July morning that began as ordinarily as any other day: Make breakfast. Feed the dogs. Take vitamins. Find that missing sock. Pick up the rogue crayon that rolled under the table. Throw my hair in a ponytail before getting my son from his crib.

After changing his diaper, I felt a sharp cramp. I dropped to the floor with him in my arms, humming a lullaby to keep us both calm, the cheerful tune a stark contrast to my sense that something was not right.

I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.

Hours later, I lay in a hospital bed, holding my husband’s hand. I felt the clamminess of his palm and kissed his knuckles, wet from both our tears. Staring at the cold white walls, my eyes glazed over. I tried to imagine how we’d heal.

I recalled a moment last year when Harry and I were finishing up a long tour in South Africa. I was exhausted. I was breastfeeding our infant son, and I was trying to keep a brave face in the very public eye.

“Are you OK?” a journalist asked me. I answered him honestly, not knowing that what I said would resonate with so many — new moms and older ones, and anyone who had, in their own way, been silently suffering. My off-the-cuff reply seemed to give people permission to speak their truth. But it wasn’t responding honestly that helped me most, it was the question itself.

“Thank you for asking,” I said. “Not many people have asked if I’m OK.”

Sitting in a hospital bed, watching my husband’s heart break as he tried to hold the shattered pieces of mine, I realized that the only way to begin to heal is to first ask, “Are you OK?”

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One thought on “Duchess of Sussex had a Miscarriage

  1. I’m very sorry for their loss. I had read rumors of a second pregnancy and I thought it’d be wonderful for little Archie, but it was not to be. Maybe in the future. My condolences to the Duke and Duchess.

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