On Monday, May 6, 2019, England’s Royal Family welcomed their newest addition to the world, baby Archie. The newborn’s birth has captivated England, not so much for his position, seventh in line to the British throne; but more of because he represents change for the oldest of royal houses. He is half American, descended on his mother’s side from a bellhop in a Cleveland hotel, a laundry worker in Chattanooga, and a bartender in an Atlanta saloon. And he is the first multiracial baby in the British monarchy’s recent history, an instant star in a country where multiracial children make up the fastest-growing ethnic category.
Buckingham Palace said that Duchess Meghan gave birth at 5:26 a.m. and that her mother, Doria Ragland, was with the new parents at their home, Frogmore Cottage. The newborn boy weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces; the royal couple wrote later appeared together and officially introduced baby Archie.
The entry of Meghan Markle, the descendant of plantation slaves, into the royal family resonated deeply with many people of African descent, who almost immediately began to anticipate the birth of the couple’s first child.
“We have been waiting for him,” said Carol Lengolo, 38, who moved to Britain from South Africa and is raising a son and a daughter in southeast London. She said that she had set up multiple notifications so the family would know the moment the child was born and that when word came through, at 2:39 p.m., they began screaming and ran to the television.
