'Meghan Markle may skip royal baby photocall because of bad press'

One of the biggest questions around the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s baby, is whether they will have the media photocall outside the hospital after the birth.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have stood on the famous steps of the Lindo Wing outside St Mary’s hospital in Paddington, hours after each of their three children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – were born.

But the palace have not confirmed where Meghan will give birth. It’s been reported that the couple have chosen a maternity unit closer to their new home Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, instead of opting for the Lindo Wing.

So will Meghan and Harry avoid that big press call?

The Queen’s former press secretary Dickie Arbiter tells Yahoo UK‘s ‘The Royal Box,’: “That is entirely up to them and given the amount of bad press that Meghan has been having recently, Harry might say ‘deal with it, we’ll do it our way.’

“But we won’t know until nearer the time, they will decide how they want to do it.”

Meghan has been subjected to a slew of negative headlines over the past few months, with claims that royal staff have dubbed her ‘difficult,’ and scrutiny of her baby shower in New York with her friends.

There’s also been speculation of a feud with the Duchess of Cambridge, which has led to a narrative in some of areas of the press, of pitting the two women against one another.

READ MORE: Latest royal baby news

Mr Arbiter says if Harry and Meghan opt for the NHS-run Frimley Park hospital in Surrey, the media interest will be “more controllable because it’s private land and the security services can stop photographers going onto that private land.”

PR expert Nick Ede thinks it could be a good idea for Harry and Meghan to release an image of their baby soon after the birth, if they decide against doing a press photocall.

He says: “I do think the press will obviously want that image. The public will demand that image, and in some ways, it could be a good thing for them to get it over and done with right at the beginning because you’ll have people camping out for weeks wanting a glimpse.”

READ MORE: Meghan and Harry launch official Instagram account

The couple launched their official Instagram account @SussexRoyal earlier this week and that has led to speculation on social media that they might decide to forgo the press call and announce the birth on their page.

The new social media account comes just weeks after it was formally announced that Harry and Meghan will have their own royal household based at Buckingham Palace, splitting from their joint office with the Cambridges at Kensington Palace.