Why Meghan Markle Can’t Have a Baby Shower

T-minus two months (give or take) until the Duchess of Sussex gives birth, and as you can imagine, the event will be quite the production. 

But with all the prep for a newborn — and a royal one at that — there’s one traditional event that won’t be happening: a baby shower. 

Pool/Samir Hussein

Now hold on a second. With such a track record of extravagant celebratory events (uh, the royal wedding, for starters), why wouldn’t a baby celebration be in the cards for Harry and Meghan? As Harper’s Bazaar Australia reports, it’s part of a royal tradition that cannot be ignored.

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Because royals are “very wealthy, a lavish baby shower would be seen as highly inappropriate,” royal expert Victoria Arbiter explained to The Sun. “There’s nothing they can’t go out and buy themselves.”

Well-to-do celebrities stateside have often dealt with the less-than-favorable optics of receiving expensive gifts by asking that guests donate to charities instead. Harry and Meghan opted for this route when it came to their wedding registry, asking attendees to make donations and hold off on buying blenders and cutlery. (We assume that Kensington Palace is well-stocked on that front.)

That’s not the only reason why a party probably wouldn’t happen. As outlets like Babble have reported, baby showers aren’t as much of a “thing” in the U.K. compared to the United States, so this might be an instance where native country culture influences expectations. 

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Even so, Markle may want to pay homage to her American roots with a good ol’ fashioned informal baby celebration. In that case, Harper’s Bazaar Australia says she’d be allowed to accept gifts form her loved ones, though there couldn’t really be a formal party. 

Just add it to the list of things she’s had to let go of to marry Harry.  

UPDATED: This story has been updated from a previous version on 2/12/2019.