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Meghan Markle reveals her baby’s due date and talks about its gender

Meghan Markle opens a community supermarket and cafe in Birkenhead, England, on January 14.

Meghan Markle opens a community supermarket and cafe in Birkenhead, England, on January 14. Photo: Getty

Meghan Markle revealed more than a new-found taste for bright fashion – a red Sentaler coat with a purple Babaton midi and red Stuart Weitzman heels – on her first day back at work for 2019.

Visiting Birkenhead, near Liverpool, with her husband Prince Harry, 34, on Monday (UK time), Meghan, 37, told locals she is “feeling really well” and let slip her first baby’s due date.

“We asked her how her pregnancy was going and she said she was six months and she tapped her tummy,” well-wisher Carla Gandy told People.

Meghan Markle January 14

Expectant Meghan on Jan. 14. Photo: Getty

The magazine reported the Duchess of Sussex, who continually cradled her considerable baby bump, told other fans gathered in the town’s Hamilton Square that she’s due in late April.

It’s the first time the royals have discussed when the baby is due.

In October when Kensington Palace released a statement announcing Meghan’s pregnancy, it said only that she is expecting “in the [northern] spring of 2019.”

The duchess hinted at the baby’s expected arrival when she and other members of the royal family went to a church service in Sandringham on Christmas Day.

One royals fan, Kate Anvil, told E! News she spoke with Meghan about the baby: “She said, ‘We’re excited. We’re nearly there’.”

The duke and duchess were both keen to talk kids during the latest outing, which saw them unveil a a statue marking the 100th anniversary of poet Wilfred Owen’s death.

Meghan, who enjoyed mint tea and lemon cake during the day (she’s given up coffee during her pregnancy), told one fan Harry is “going to be a fantastic dad” and said to another that her pregnancy had gone “so” quickly.

When asked how she was coping in her stilettos, the duchess replied, “One day at a time”.

When one fan predicted the baby is a girl, Meghan said, “There are strong opinions about that, but it’s a 50/50 split,” according to People.

Kitty Dudley, 9, asked Meghan outright if she’s having a boy or girl. “She said, ‘We don’t know whether it’s a boy or girl, we are keeping it as a surprise’,” Kitty said.

During their Sydney visit in October, a fan called out to the prince during a walkabout that she hoped the baby “is a girl”. Harry shot back, “So do I!”

On Monday UK betting agency Paddy Power suspended betting on the gender of the Sussexes’ child after a flurry of bets on it being a girl.

The bookmaker has Diana as the favourite girl’s name at 8-1, followed by Alice, Victoria, Grace and Elizabeth.

Sportsbet also has Diana installed at the top of their betting list, with Arthur the favourite for a boy. Ladbrokes places Albert at 10-1 and Victoria at 8-1.

In the lead up to becoming a dad, Harry is copying his wife’s practice of meditation, which she said in 2015 is the “quietude that rocks my world”.

In Birkenhead, Buddhist monk Kelsang Sonam gave Harry a book called 8 Steps to Happiness after the prince told him he meditates every day.

In the next couple of weeks the parents-to-be are expected to move out of Kensington Palace and into Frogmore Cottage in the grounds of Windsor Castle.

Unlike Kate Middleton, Meghan reportedly may not give birth at the Lindo Wing in St Mary’s Hospital in London.

Vanity Fair reported the former Suits star is considering a home birth or a delivery at the public Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, which has 13 ensuite labour rooms, according to its website.

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