Talk about bad timing! Australian magazine New Idea hits newsstands with front-page story ‘claiming Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have split’… right as the Sussexes announce they are expecting their second child
- The California-based Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they were expecting another child on Sunday evening (GMT)
- Hours before the news broke, Australian magazine New Idea hit newsstands in on Monday with a rather unfortunate front page
- The cover falsely claimed the royal couple had split, alongside the headline: ‘Official palace statement: IT’S ALL OVER’
- In 2008, New Idea reported Harry was serving in Afghanistan with the British Army – breaking an agreement by news outlets not to reveal this information
- The prince abandoned his posting a month later due to security fears, and the tabloid later apologised for its ‘serious lapse of judgment’
An Australian tabloid magazine hit newsstands on Monday morning with a headline falsely claiming the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had separated – just hours before the couple announced their baby news.
Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan Markle, 39, who are already parents to one-year-old son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, confirmed they were expecting a second child on Sunday evening (GMT).
A spokesperson for the California-based couple said: ‘We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are overjoyed to be expecting their second child.’
Whoops! Australian tabloid magazine New Idea hit newsstands on Monday morning with a headline falsely claiming the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had separated – just hours before the couple announced their baby news
As Aussies woke up to the royal baby news Monday, many were no doubt surprised to see New Idea’s glaringly inaccurate front page on their morning commute.
The magazine used a picture of Harry and Meghan on their wedding day in May 2018, alongside the headline: ‘Official palace statement: IT’S ALL OVER.’
New Idea has yet to post its front page on social media.
‘Archie is going to be a big brother’: Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan Markle, 39, who are already parents to one-year-old son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, confirmed they were expecting a second child on Sunday evening (GMT). Pictured in February 2019 in Morocco
While the front page falsely suggests Harry and Meghan have just announced their separation, the article itself is actually about the pair possibly being ‘stripped of their [royal] titles once and for all’ after leaving Britain for the U.S.
This isn’t the first time New Idea has suffered a gaffe relating to Prince Harry.
In January 2008, New Idea reported Harry was serving in Afghanistan with the British Army – breaking an agreement by news outlets not to reveal this information.
The report was picked up by American news aggregation website Drudge Report a month later, which prompted Fleet Street to follow suit.
The prince then abandoned his posting and returned to the UK due to security fears.
The tabloid later said it had been unaware of any media blackout concerning Harry’s service in Afghanistan.
‘New Idea was not issued with a press embargo and was unaware of the existence of one,’ it said in a statement to the ABC.
‘The story was published on Monday, January 7 [2008]. Since then New Idea has received no comment from the British Ministry of Defence.
‘We take these matters very seriously and would never knowingly break an embargo. We regret any issues the revelation of this story in America has caused today.’