Meghan Markle is the picture of newborn bliss cradling baby son Archie in rare photo

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are doting parents to children Archie Harrison, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, leading a quiet life in Montecito, California together.

In a sweet moment that featured in the Sussexes’ Netflix documentary, Harry & Meghan, fans got a rare glimpse of Archie’s first weeks in the world.

A still from the programme showed postpartum Meghan sitting on a window ledge, cradling the newborn close to her chest. All bundled up in a blue babygrow and a white, star-print blanket, little Archie gazed into the distance as his mother tenderly placed a kiss on his forehead.

Meghan was the picture of newborn bliss, dressed down in a cosy cardigan with her hair pulled into a loose high ponytail.

The beautiful photograph was no doubt taken at Harry and Meghan’s marital home Frogmore Cottage, which they retreated to just two hours after Archie’s birth.

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The royal tot was welcomed into the world at London’s Portland Hospital on 6 May 2019. Meghan had an epidural during labour, a fact revealed by Harry in his tell-all book Spare.

“When her contractions began to quicken, and deepen, a nurse came and tried to give some laughing gas to Meg,” Harry wrote. “There was none left. The nurse looked at the tank, looked at me, and I could see the thought slowly dawning: ‘Gracious, the husband’s had it all’.”

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Two years later, Archie’s little sister Lilibet Diana – touchingly named after Harry’s late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II and mother Princess Diana – was born.

Revealing that her son “loves being a big brother”, Meghan previously told chat show host Ellen DeGeneres that it took some time for Archie to adjust to the newest member of the family.

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“Everyone talks about what it’s like for the second child, but no one talks about the adjustment for the first child when the second one comes along. So I think they have this moment of, ‘Oh, this is fun. Oh, this how it is now,'” she explained.

Meghan also touched upon her own experience of motherhood during the Sussexes’ visit to Nigeria earlier this year.

Speaking on a Women in Leadership panel, which she co-hosted with Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization, the former royal revealed she loves “being a mum”.

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Discussing the work/life juggle since having kids, Meghan said: “That balance will always change for you. That balance, what seems balanced ten years ago is going to shift. 

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“And so being a mum has always been a dream of mine. And I’m so fortunate that we have two beautiful, healthy, very chatty sweet children.”